DAMASCUS: Syrian Internal Security Forces killed two Daesh (ISIS) militants who were planting an improvised explosive device near the Sayyidah Zaynab area of Damascus countryside, state media SANA reported Friday, citing the Interior Ministry.
The ministry said the militants were discovered during a nighttime patrol on roads leading to military barracks and government facilities.
According to the ministry, security officers became suspicious of two masked men standing by the roadside and moved to check their identities. The suspects opened fire, prompting a clash in which both were killed, it said.
Security personnel subsequently found that the men had been planting an IED in preparation for an attack on a government facility.
“Additional explosive devices and weapons were also recovered from their possession, and investigations confirmed their affiliation with the ISIS terrorist organization,” the statement said.
The Internal Security Forces, working with the General Intelligence Service, have foiled several Daesh plots in recent months, according to the ministry.
The incident comes amid a continuing Syrian campaign against Daesh networks. On July 29, security forces arrested several suspected ISIS members in coordinated raids in Aleppo and the town of Al-Bab, seizing explosives, IEDs and weapons, SANA reported. Authorities said the operation targeted suspected hideouts and was aimed at dismantling the group’s networks and preventing attacks.
Earlier, the Interior Ministry said Daesh was responsible for the June 2025 bombing of Mar Elias Church in Damascus, which killed 25 civilians and wounded 63. The ministry said the group had exploited the security vacuum following the collapse of the former regime’s security and military institutions to move fighters from the Syrian desert into urban areas and acquire weapons and explosives from abandoned stockpiles.
The ministry said Daesh had also plotted an attack on the Sayyidah Zaynab shrine, seeking to inflame sectarian tensions by targeting Shiite worshippers and Christian communities. It said counterterrorism operations had arrested about 1,300 suspected Daesj members and dismantled 34 cells in recent months.
On July 9, the ministry said security forces had dismantled several Daesh cells in southern Syria and arrested senior leader Firas al-Dagher, whom it accused of overseeing assassination and financing activities. The authorities said the cells had carried out killings and armed robberies in Daraa to finance Daesh operations.
The latest operation underscores the continuing threat posed by Daesh cells in Syria despite intensified efforts by the authorities to dismantle the group’s networks and disrupt planned attacks.
