ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The bodies of eight fighters affiliated with the Syrian government who disappeared 11 days ago were found on Sunday in the eastern Deir ez-Zor province, a war monitor reported, blaming the Islamic State (ISIS) for their killings.
“The bodies of 8 members of the National Defense Forces [NDF] militia were found, killed by ISIS cells on the outskirts of Jabal al-Bishri in the western desert of Deir ez-Zor,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Britain-based war monitor.
The NDF is a pro-government militia that has fought alongside President Bashar al-Assad since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.
ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in a brazen offensive in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate.”
While the group was declared territorially defeated in both countries in 2017 and 2019 respectively, it still continues to pose serious security risks through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions, especially across the vast expanses of the Syrian desert as well as several Iraqi provinces.
In February, an ISIS attack in the Syrian desert killed at least nine Syrian army soldiers.
At least 34 NDF fighters and army soldiers were killed in an ISIS attack in the Syrian desert in November.