DAMASCUS, Syria — While most Syrian areas have been under a cease-fire since Feb. 27, fighting has been raging between the Islamic State (IS) militants and the Syrian regime forces following the IS attack on the villages to the north of Hama’s eastern countryside that same day. The official Syrian news agency, SANA, reported on that day the “death of six people in a car bomb by IS at the entrance of al-Salamiyah.”
In another report, SANA reported, “The Syrian army managed to circumvent IS' attacks on many of the areas under the army’s control.”