The key facts

  • Two Syrian Defense Ministry employees shot dead in Al-Fuah (Idlib countryside) on Wednesday
  • The identities of the victims, the circumstances, and the attackers have not been disclosed
  • At least the third case this month of military personnel killed by unidentified gunmen

Attack in Al-Fuah

Two members of Syria's Ministry of Defense were shot dead on Wednesday by unidentified armed individuals in the town of Al-Fuah, located in the northeastern countryside of Idlib province in the country's northwest. The state agency SANA reported this, stating that the identities of the victims, the circumstances of the shooting, and those involved in the attack have not been disclosed (Anadolu).

A series of similar incidents over the past month

This is not the only such case in recent weeks. According to the Ministry of Defense, soldiers had already been killed earlier this month in separate attacks by unidentified gunmen in the east of the country. According to the Alikhbaria TV channel, citing a source in the ministry's media and communications department, on October 19 a serviceman was killed in an attack in Al-Baghuz in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, and on October 10 the ministry reported the death of another soldier from wounds sustained on the evening of October 6, when unidentified armed individuals opened fire in the town of Bukrus, also in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor.

What remains unknown

Neither in the report on the attack in Idlib nor in the earlier cases have those responsible for the shootings been named, and the motives behind the incidents have not been disclosed. Thus, there is no confirmed information in the available publications as to whether the attacks in Idlib and Deir ez-Zor are connected.