A Syrian Defense Ministry bus hit a roadside bomb near the town of Saalo, in the Deir Ezzor Governorate today, causing a massive explosion that left five guards killed and 13 others wounded.
According to the Oil Ministry, the bus was transporting soldiers from work as guards in an oil facility in the governorate. There has been no claim of responsibility yet, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the reports were the IED was planted by suspected ISIS members.
IEDs appear to be a growing problem in this area of eastern Syria, as just two weeks ago a smaller IED wounded two Defense Ministry personnel in the nearby village of Tob. Similarly no one claimed credit for that incident either.
Most of the oil fields in Syria are in the far east of the country, near the Iraq border, and their economic importance, combined with the insecurity in the region has made protecting those fields a top military priority throughout the Syrian Civil War and beyond.
During the war, ISIS at one point controlled most of the oil production in the east. The US-backed Kurdish SDF took most of the fields in the Hasakeh Governorate, while the government ultimately reclaimed the ones in Deir Ezzor.
Though ISIS doesn’t actively control much territory anymore, they remain a substantial force in the east of the country, and one that often tries to reestablish control where it believes its rivals are vulnerable.
