One day after the last of their fighters had left metro Damascus, ISIS forces have reemerged further east, near the ancient city of Palmyra. On Tuesday, ISIS attacked a military outpost, killing 30 fighters, including members of the Syrian military and pro-government militiamen.

The attack involved suicide bombers, and ISIS fighters in armored vehicles. Locals described the ISIS fighters as having come out of the desert, and appear to have fled back into the desert after the dawn attack.

ISIS controls very little territory inside Iraq or Syria at this point, but its forces remain in numbers spread out in the desert areas. Those groups have continued to carry out hit-and-run attacks where they believe they can.

The main ISIS forces in Syria are in the two desert areas in the east, which means they will continue to be able to contest Palmyra, as well as towns along the Euphrates River, in the near future.