The possible transfer of ISIS militants to the Suweida desert complicated on Tuesday Russian-led negotiations to secure the release of dozens of Druze hostages abducted by the terrorist group from Syria’s southern province last month.
The destination of the extremists, who should withdraw from the Yarmouk basin, constitutes an obstacle to any deal that would uproot the terrorist organization from the area.
Reports said the militants could be either moved to ISIS pockets in the eastern desert of Homs, the western desert of Deir Ezzor or the eastern strip of the Euphrates River amid information that the extremists have announced their rejection to move to any of these areas.
Meanwhile, Suweida province residents are exerting pressure on the Syrian regime to prevent the move of the extremist fighters to their villages.
Syrian forces have launched a large-scale military operation against a small ISIS pocket in the desert of eastern Suweida, from where the terrorist group carried out two weeks ago a series of attacks on several Druze villages that killed more than 250 people, mostly civilians.
The terrorist organization executed a 19-year-old boy from al-Shabaki village, who was among more than 30 children, teenagers, and women abducted by ISIS during its attacks on the area.
In the same context, pro-government Druze men hanged an ISIS militant in Suweida on Tuesday, an activist group said.
Director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Rami Abdel Rahman said the hanging was carried out at a public square in Swaida city.
Swaida 24, a local news outlet, said the ISIS member had been caught Tuesday morning in a desert area of the province.
Earlier, an ISIS suicide bomber had attacked a position of the Syrian Social National Party in east Suweida, killing four party members and injuring others.
On the battlefield, regime forces and their allies controlled new positions in the desert of Suweida after advancing towards several fronts.
Suweida 24 quoted a military source as saying that ISIS militants avoided any direct confrontation with regime forces and escaped to al-Safa.
The same source predicted that the area would witness fierce confrontations in the next days.
