Sama television, which is affiliated with the Damascus government, announced that an ISIS (The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) attack took place on the Deir ez-Zor-Homs road on 30 December 2020 and that 28 people were killed.

The news stated, “There was a terrorist attack against a bus on the Dêrazor-Tedmur road in the Kebacibê region at around 16:00 and 28 citizens lost their lives.”

While the Assad administration announced that the people who lost their lives were civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) claimed that the victims were soldiers travelling home on the bus.

SOHR also announced that ISIS had actually targeted 3 buses carrying Damascus government forces.

“The death toll of the 4th Division and regime forces has risen to 39, including eight officers of different ranks, all of whom were killed in an attack on military buses on the Homs-Deir ez-Zor road.” SOHR stated.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. In messages posted on ISIS-linked websites, it was reported that 40 people were killed in the attack.

According to SOHR statistics, ISIS killed 819 regime soldiers and loyalists in 2020, by way of armed attacks, bombings, ambushes and clashes, including the killing of 108 Iranian-backed militiamen of non-Syrian nationalities.

ISIS it was claimed also lost 507 fighters in the same operations which included airstrikes by Russian and Syrian regime jets.