Four Syrian regime fighters were killed east of the capital, a monitor said on Wednesday (August 1st), in an ambush claimed by the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS), AFP reported.
The extremists struck on Tuesday in a hilly area about 50 kilometres from Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"There were four regime fighters killed, including three officers working in the Dumeir area," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
ISIS had a presence in the industrial area of Dumeir for several years but was eventually ousted by rival opposition groups, who lost the area to the government this year.
"The area attacked lies close to the Badiya (Syrian desert) but it is not clear if the attackers were hiding in sleeper cells there or came in from the desert," Abdel Rahman said.
Last week, ISIS fighters reportedly based in the desert made a devastating foray into the southern province of Sweida, killing more than 250 people in co-ordinated suicide bombings, shootings and stabbings.
