The ministry said that "the Aleppo security department together with the general intelligence services carried out a raid targeting a hideout where a Daesh organisation cell was entrenched," using an Arabic acronym for IS.

"The clashes accompanying the operation led to the death of a member of the General Security force," the statement said.

Several cell members were arrested, the ministry said, with the search ongoing for others.

Forces stormed the site and seized "explosive devices, an explosive vest and a number of General Security force uniforms", the statement added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the clashes erupted in Aleppo's Haidariya neighbourhood, also reporting a security operation in another district.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that security forces clashed with Islamist extremists who may have been "former security force members" who defected to IS.

Syria's transitional authorities, who have roots in the Al-Qaeda jihadist network, face the daunting task of maintaining security in the ethnically and religiously diverse country.

Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham spearheaded the offensive that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after nearly 14 years of war.

The new administration has dissolved all armed factions, with some groups including HTS being integrated into bodies including the General Security, the country's new police force.

US President Donald Trump this week offered to ease sanctions on Syria and presented demands on Damascus that include helping prevent a resurgence of IS.

IS seized large swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in the early years of Syria's civil war, declaring a cross-border "caliphate" in 2014.

US-backed Kurdish-led forces spearheaded the battle that led to IS's territorial defeat in Syria in 2019, but the jihadists have maintained a presence mainly in the country's vast desert.