<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>An attack by Islamic State group jihadists on Syrian government forces in the war-torn country's east has killed 33 soldiers, a monitor said Saturday, revising an earlier toll of 26 deaths.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The shooting Thursday evening on an army bus was the extremist group's deadliest attack on government forces this year, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.</div><div><br></div><div>Despite losing their last piece of territory in Syria in 2019, IS has maintained hideouts in the vast Syrian desert from which it has carried out ambushes and hit-and-run attacks.</div><div><br></div><div>"The death toll from the army bus attack rose to 33 soldiers," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the British-based monitoring group which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria.</div><div><br></div><div>The jihadists surrounded the bus in the desert near Mayadeen, in Deir Ezzor province, and opened fire, the Observatory reported on Friday.</div><div><br></div><div>IS claimed the attack later Friday, saying its fighters had carried out an ambush "on two military buses", targeting them "with heavy weapons and rocket-propelled grenades" and setting one on fire, according to a statement from the jihadists' Amaq news agency.</div><div><br></div><div>Syrian state news agency SANA said the "terrorist attack" had caused a number of military casualties, citing an army source. AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>