Two members of Syria's internal security forces have been killed and five wounded in clashes with a suspected ISIL (ISIS) cell during a raid on the outskirts of Damascus, the Interior Ministry reported, Al Jazeera said on Thursday. The state news agency SANA likewise reported on Thursday that two Syrian security personnel were killed in clashes near Damascus during an operation targeting a suspected Islamic State cell.

Source: Al Jazeera (via Trinidad Tribune)

The fighting began on Thursday morning, when security forces launched an operation against the cell in the town of Rankous in the western Damascus countryside. The ministry said the suspects refused to surrender and opened fire, triggering the clashes. Five alleged ISIL members were killed and six arrested, and weapons and explosive belts were seized, the ministry said, according to Al Jazeera.

Source: SANA (state news agency, via EIN News wire listing, Oct 22)

2Syrian internal security members killed in the Rankous raid, the Interior Ministry and SANA said
5security personnel wounded in the clashes, the ministry said
5 killed, 6 arrestedalleged ISIL members, according to the Interior Ministry — a toll residents disputed

Al Jazeera's Heidi Pett, reporting from Syria, said residents told her the clashes began around 6am (03:00 GMT) and lasted two to three hours, and that some of the wounded security personnel were seriously hurt. Residents gave a different account of the cell itself: they said the group was about nine people — smaller than what officials reported — with two members killed, another two escaping, and an unknown number injured. Residents told the local outlet Syria Now that security forces imposed a curfew and arrested several people.

The operation is the latest in a series of raids as the government tries to dismantle ISIL networks and prevent attacks, Al Jazeera reported. The ministry also reportedly foiled an ISIL plot in the Damascus countryside and dismantled an ISIL cell in the Houla area of Homs earlier this month; the plots involved attacking places of worship and security patrols, according to Syria Now. On October 6, the ministry announced the arrest of Khaled Raed Birouni, also known as Abu Hassan Dushka, in the town of Hujaira in the Damascus countryside, saying he was the group's top military commander for Homs and accusing him of planning attacks including the December 2025 bombing of a mosque in the city's Wadi al-Dhahab neighbourhood during Friday prayers, which killed eight people and wounded 18, according to Syria's Health Ministry.

ISIL has repeatedly attacked Syrian security forces, usually targeting buses and vehicles carrying personnel, along with a few attacks on civilians, Al Jazeera reported. Syria has joined the 90-member international coalition against ISIL, six years after Syrian Kurdish-led forces led the territorial defeat of ISIL strongholds in the country's northeast.

What is solid

  • Two members of Syria's internal security forces were killed and five wounded in Thursday's raid in Rankous, in the western Damascus countryside (Interior Ministry via Al Jazeera; SANA).
  • The Interior Ministry said the suspects refused to surrender and opened fire, and that weapons and explosive belts were seized (Al Jazeera).
  • Residents told Al Jazeera the clashes began around 6am and lasted two to three hours, and told Syria Now that a curfew was imposed (Al Jazeera).

What is only claimed

  • How many suspected cell members were killed or captured is disputed: the Interior Ministry said five alleged ISIL members were killed and six arrested, while residents told Al Jazeera the group numbered about nine, with two killed and two escaping. Awaaz Punjab reports both accounts with their sources and does not present either toll as settled.
  • The dead suspects are described as alleged ISIL members on the ministry's account; no independent confirmation of their identities or affiliation has been reported.