Two security personnel killed in operation against IS-linked cell

Syrian security forces on Thursday said two of their personnel had been killed during an operation against a cell affiliated with the Islamic State jihadist group in the Damascus region.

The country's Islamist authorities who ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 regularly announce operations against IS-affiliated networks and individuals accused of planning attacks.

State news agency SANA reported that security forces in cooperation with intelligence agencies carried out an operation targeting "a cell affiliated with the Daesh (IS) terrorist organisation in the town of Rankus" in the Damascus countryside.

It said two security forces members were killed and five others wounded in clashes, without providing details.

Earlier this month, Syrian authorities also said they had arrested a key IS operative allegedly responsible for planning and overseeing attacks including a deadly mosque blast in Homs last year.

Syrian authorities, who face major security challenges, last year joined a U.S.-led coalition against the jihadists.

Once in control of swathes of Syria and Iraq, IS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019, but remnants of the group are still present there, including in the country's vast desert.

The group occasionally claims attacks, mainly targeting Syrian security forces.

Syria has blamed IS for bomb blasts in July during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron. Authorities said they arrested the cell responsible.