The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for two bomb attacks in southern Syria, including one targeting the Syrian army. 

In a statement released Thursday, IS said it planted a bomb that hit a Syrian army vehicle in the al-Safa desert in Syria’s Sweida province on May 22. The group reported seven soldiers were killed or injured.

In a separate attack earlier this week, IS said it targeted fighters from the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army in a nearby area. It claimed that one fighter was killed and three were wounded in the attack.

U.K based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) confirmed that the recent explosion killed one civilian and wounded three soldiers from the army’s 70th Division. According to SOHR, this is the first IS-claimed attack on Syria’s new government since President Bashar al-Assad was removed from power in December 2024.

IS lost its last territory in Syria in 2019. In recent months, the group has claimed responsibility for attacks targeting the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, who replaced Assad as Syria’s president, is a former member of al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, a longtime rival of IS. Syria’s new government has recently reported arrests and raids targeting IS cells near Damascus and in Aleppo.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump met with al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia. The White House said Trump asked Syria’s new leader to help prevent the return of IS and to consider normalizing relations with Israel.