This picture shows the damage in the fifth-century Syriac Catholic monastery of Mar Elian (Saint Elian) on Dec 20, 2021, inflicted by the Islamic State group, who seized the town in 2015. (LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)

DUBAI - Five Syrian soldiers were killed and 20 injured in a rocket attack by Islamic State militants on a military transport bus on Sunday in the east of the country at approximately 7 pm local time (1700 GMT), Syrian state media said on Monday.

Islamic State, the hardline Islamist group that declared a caliphate straddling parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, has lost all territory that was under its control in 2019.

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However, the group continues to wage a low-level insurgency in both countries.