Armed attackers kill four Syrian security forces members in Idlib

(Patria) - The Ministry of Interior and state media announced that armed men killed four members of the Syrian security forces in the northwest of the country on Sunday, Al Arabiya reported.

"Four members of the road security department of the Ministry of Interior were killed, and a fifth was wounded when their patrol was targeted while on duty on the Maaret al-Numan road" in Idlib province, the ministry said.

The official SANA news agency reported that armed men opened fire on the personnel.

None of them identified the attackers.

The Idlib region was a bastion of armed groups before Syrian opposition forces overthrew long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive last December.

The attack occurred a day after an attack on a joint US-Syrian patrol in Palmyra, central Syria, in which two American soldiers and a translator were killed.

US President Donald Trump called the incident "an ISIS attack on the US and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria" and promised "very serious retaliation".
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani called Saturday's attack "a new challenge in the fight against terrorism".

Following Saturday's attack, authorities launched an operation against ISIS cells across Homs province, where Palmyra is located.

The US-led coalition has occasionally carried out attacks in the Idlib region, usually claiming to target ISIS officials.