Unknown attackers kill Syrian regime troops in raid on Daraa checkpoint

Two separate attacks on Syrian regime forces in the southern province of Daraa this week killed at least two troops, monitors have reported.

Unknown gunmen launched a raid on a regime checkpoint at a bridge in Umm Al-Mayathen, the Daraa countryside, on Tuesday evening, using rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns.

Mohammed Al-Askara, a media activist documenting human rights violations in southern Syria, said the attack left one soldier dead and another injured.

Pro-opposition media also reported that a man accused of working for the Syrian regime was killed and three injured in a drive-by shooting in Daraa province on Tuesday.

It came a day after a bomb targeted a minibus carrying troops injuring 15 people and killing one junior officer, Al-Askara said.

"[The] explosive device planted by unknown persons detonated between the towns of Al-Yadudah and Al-Muzayrib... [targeting] a military convoy of the regime forces, which resulted in the fall of a number wounded, all of whom are in a serious condition," he told The New Arab. "They were taken to hospitals in the city of Daraa."

A photo of the minibus after the attack showed windows gutted and the bodywork a mess of mangled metal.

It was not clear which military branch the personnel belonged to, but regime troops, militas and intelligence in Daraa are generally divided between Iran and Russia-linked factions.

There has been a spate of attacks on these forces in Daraa since the former opposition stronghold fell to the regime in 2018.

Former rebels who reconciled with the regime, and fighters and activists who did not, have also been frequent targets of assassinations.

Islamic State group remnants, who some activists accuse of colluding with the regime, have been blamed for a string of attacks in Daraa.

The province has been awash with kidnappings and lawlessness with an explosion in captagon production and smuggling in recent years.