Syrian security forces on Thursday announced the death of three members as they attempted to arrest a fugitive and dismantle an Islamic State group cell in the south.
A clash broke out in Daraa province, in Al-Sanamein, where security forces said they had imposed a curfew and were searching for others involved in the incident.
“Three members of the internal security forces were killed and several others wounded during an operation aimed at arresting a wanted individual in the town of Al-Sanamein,” the forces said.
The statement said an “armed outlaw group led by the suspect targeted the patrol”.
A local government official told AFP that the wanted man is part of IS, which has been territorially defeated in Syria but maintains sleeper cells.
Security forces later said they “apprehended the cell responsible for the martyrdom of three of our members in the city of Al-Sanamein”.
“The pursuit of the remaining members of the cell is ongoing and will not cease until all those involved are arrested and brought to justice,” the forces said.
Interior ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said that the security operation “has so far succeeded in dismantling criminal cells and others linked to IS that were coordinating with each other”.
“Five wanted individuals have been arrested and will be brought to justice,” Baba added, saying that the security cordon imposed on the area was lifted.
IS used to control vast swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq before being defeated in the two countries in 2019 and 2017, respectively.
However, in Syria it continues to periodically claim attacks against government forces, particularly in the vast Syrian desert, as well as in the north and northeast of the country.
It had also been established in the past in the Daraa province, in the south, where its leader Abu Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was killed in October 2022 in clashes with local gunmen.
Last year, the new Syrian authorities, who overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in 2024, joined the international coalition led by the United States against IS.
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