ISIS resurgence in 2021 | ISIS kills 625 persons in areas under control of Syrian regime and SDF, and loses more than 500 fighters

Another year is about to end while ISIS presence is still strong in Syria, contrary to the International Coalition announcements of defeating the group in March 2019. ISIS’s strength is manifested in its escalating operations carried out in areas under control of the regime forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). In these areas, ISIS exploits every possible opportunity to sow chaos and carry out attacks, a clear statement that the organisation is here to stay.

 On the other hand, the SDF, in cooperation with the International Coalition, have carried out counter-security operations, while regime forces have continued their routine “combing” campaigns with the support of Russia’s intensive air strikes. However, all anti-ISIS security operations have not achieved their goals yet.

 In this report, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented in details ISIS activities and operations in different areas in Syrian in 2021.

Amid Russia’s escalated operations, ISIS killed 400 soldiers of regime forces and members of proxy factions.

 ISIS continues its intensive attacks on different areas of the Syrian desert, a message for the regime forces and their allies that the Islamic group still has enough power to respond. Clearly, ISIS fighters are still deployed in nearly 4,000 square kilometres all along Jabal Abu Rajmin region in north-eastern Palmyra and the desert of Deir Ezzor and its western countryside, and Al-Sukhna desert and north of the administrative borders of Al-Suwaydaa province.

 The areas of Aleppo-Hama-Al-Raqqah triangle, Homs and Deir Ezzor deserts, experience bombings, ambushes and attacks almost daily by ISIS that are countered by periodic security operations of regime’s forces and their proxy factions under cover of the Russian fighter jets.

 In 2021, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented the death of 880 people in security operations in the Syrian desert.

The fatalities include:

• 484 ISIS fighters, including 83 killed in clashes with regime forces, while the other, 401, were killed by Russian airstrikes.
• 396 of regime forces and their proxy militiamen were killed ISIS attacks, explosions and ambushes

Here is a monthly breakdown of fatalities in 2021:

• January: 121 persons were killed, including 81 of ISIS fighters, and 40 soldiers and members of the regime forces and their proxy militiamen.
• February: 182 persons were killed, including 89 of ISIS fighters, and 93 soldiers and members of the regime forces and their proxy militiamen.
• March: 97 persons were killed, including 69 of ISIS fighters, and 28 soldiers and members of the regime forces and their proxy militiamen.
• April: 121 64 were killed, including 64 of ISIS fighters, and 21 soldiers and members of the regime forces and their proxy militiamen.
• May: 59 persons were killed, including 27 of ISIS fighters, and 32 soldiers and members of the regime forces and their proxy militiamen.
• June: 87 persons were killed, including 35 of ISIS fighters, and 52 soldiers and members of the regime forces and their proxy militiamen.
• July: 55 persons were killed, including 23 of ISIS fighters, and 32 soldiers and members of the regime forces and their proxy militiamen.
• August: 25 persons were killed, including 14 of ISIS fighters, and 11 soldiers and members of the regime forces and their proxy militiamen.
• September: 51 persons were killed, including 15 of ISIS fighters, and 36 soldiers and members of the regime forces and their proxy militiamen.
• October: 47 persons were killed, including 31 of ISIS fighters, and 16 soldiers and members of the regime forces and their proxy militiamen.
• November: 33 persons were killed, including 15 of ISIS fighters, and 18 soldiers and members of the regime forces and their proxy militiamen.
• December: 38 persons were killed, including 21 of ISIS fighters, and 17 soldiers and members of the regime forces and their proxy militiamen.

It is worth noting that ISIS in 2020 killed 819 soldiers and members of regime forces and their proxy militiamen in attacks, bombings and ambushes on the Syrian desert, including 108 non-Syrian militiamen loyal to Iran’s factions. However, 507 of ISIS fighters were killed in the same operations and with regime forces and Russian airstrikes.

Nearly 344 attacks in SDF-held areas killed 230 people

ISIS and its sleeper cells continued their operations in areas under the SDF in north and north-east Syria in 2021, carrying out several attacks and attempted assassinations using various methods, including shooting, using sharp tools and planting IEDs and landmines throughout SDF-held areas. On the other hand, SDF launched periodic security campaigns, with Coalition support, targeting ISIS cells and individuals accused of “dealing with these cells”. However, such campaigns remained timid and ineffective and could not put an end to ISIS’ escalating operations in the region.

SOHR activists documented over 344 attacks in 2021 carried out by ISIS cells in SDF-held areas in Deir Ezzor, Al-Hasakah, Aleppo and Al-Raqqah, including armed attacks and explosions. According to SOHR statistics, the number of people killed in these attacks reached 229: 93 civilians, including nine women and five children, and 136 members of SDF, Asayish Forces, Self-Defence Forces and other SDF-backed military formations.

Here is a monthly breakdown of ISIS attacks and fatalities in SDF-held areas in 2021:

• January: 51 attacks left 37 people dead: 16 civilians and 21 military personnel.
• February: 63 attacks left 46 people dead: Ten civilians, including a child and two women, and 36 military personnel.
• March: 41 attacks left 16 people dead: five civilians and 11 military personnel.
• April: 31 attacks left 23 people dead: eight civilians, including a child and two women, and 15 military personnel.
• May: 35 attacks left 21 people dead: four civilians and 17 military personnel.
• June:21 attacks left 16 people dead: eight civilians and eight military personnel.
• July:16 attacks left ten people dead: seven civilians and three military personnel.
• August: 18 attacks left 12 people dead: six civilians, including a child and a woman, and six military personnel.
• September: 12 attacks left eight people dead: six civilians, including a woman, and two members of SDF-backed formations.
• October: 11 attacks left eight people dead: five civilians and three military personnel.
• November: 29 attacks left 22 people dead: 15 civilians, including a child and two women, and seven military personnel.
• December: 14 attacks left nine people dead: three civilians, including a woman, and six military personnel.

Meanwhile, anti-ISIS security operations by the SDF and the International Coalition in 2021 left 19 ISIS fighters dead and hundreds arrested.

In 2020, SOHR has managed to document 280 ISIS attacks in areas under control of the SDF in Deir Ezzor, Al-Hasakah, Al-Raqqah and Manbij. ISIS attacks, bombings and ambushes killed 208 people detailed as follows:

• 86 civilians, including ten children and six women.
• 122 members of military formations serving in those areas.
• The new year is looming while the destiny of Islamic State’s abductees is still unclear amid deafening silence by the international community.

Although nearly 33 months have passed since the International Coalition’s announcement of the defeat of ISIS which was a dominant force east of the Euphrates River, and with the recent developments, silence still surrounds the issue of ISIS’s abductees. Concerns are growing, and all sides remain quiet and provide no clarification on the fate of and lives of those abductees, including Father Paolo Daololio, Bishops John Ibrahim and Paul Yazji, Abdullah Al Khalil, a British journalist, sky news journalist and other journalists, in addition to hundreds of abductees from Ain Al Arab (Kobani) area, Afrin, and Deir Ezzor.

Amid the consecutive developments and growing activities of ISIS, we, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), renew our call to the UN Security Council to refer those ‘war crimes’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ committed in Syria to the International Criminal Court so that all the criminals and killers of the Syrian people are brought to justice.

We, at SOHR, also point out that the Syrian Observatory had already warned, well before “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” declared itself as “Caliphate State” in Syria and Iraq, that this organization did not intend to work for the Syrian people interests, but rather ISIS continued to kill innocent Syrians, millions were gratuitously killed, wounded and displaced.

Furthermore, the “Islamic State” recruited children in the so-called “cubs of the caliphate”, and controlled the wealth and resources of Syrian people and harnessed them to build a “caliphate”, and traded openly back and forth with one of Syria’s neighbouring countries.

SOHR calls on the international community once more to find a lasting peaceful settlement for the Syrian conflict.