ISIS in June 2024 | Ongoing escalation with 38 attacks in Syrian desert and SDF-controlled areas leaving nearly 75 combatants and civilians dead

Although the Counter-ISIS International Coalition command and the leaders of Syria Democratic Forces announced the elimination of the so-called Caliphate of the “Islamic State” in March 2019, recent developments on the ground indicate that ISIS has not been fully eliminated. ISIS continues launching military operations and counter-attacks which are met with security campaigns by Coalition forces and their Syria Democratic Forces partner throughout SDF-controlled areas, in addition to military operations by Russian and regime forces against ISIS cells in areas under their control. However, ISIS cells are still able to exploit opportunities to create a security vacuum and carry out assassinations, which clearly indicates that the “Islamic State” is still alive and kicking.

 

In the 119^th month after the declaration of “Al-Baghdadi’s Caliphate,” ISIS carried out 16 operations, including armed attacks and explosions, in areas controlled by SDF. Those operations left 12 fatalities: seven members of military formations operating in SDF-controlled areas and five ISIS members.

 

Those operations are distributed regionally as follows:

 

• Deir Ezzor: 14 operations left six combatant and three ISIS members dead.

 

• Al-Hasakah: Two operations left one combatant and two ISIS members dead.

 

On May 30, ISIS cells stuck leaflets on the walls in Theban town in eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, where the leaflets included threats to the owners of fuel trucks of SDF, warnings them against working in oil business in Deir Ezzor countryside.

 

The posters stated: “to all drivers of oil trucks and carriers in general in Al-Khair state, we inform you that any truck that enters Theban’s refineries or carries oil for the apostate Al-Dhib or Hamza Al-Sayed will be a target for us. All trucks that move oil from the eastern and western wells of Al-Khair state are targets for us. Every truck will be targeted as of May 30.”

 

A day later, May 31, ISIS cells continue to threaten the owners of oil trucks of SDF for the second consecutive day, where they stuck leaflets on the walls in Al-Baseiyrah town in eastern Deir Ezzor countryside and the village of Al-Harijiyah in northern Deir Ezzor countryside, in which they threatened to target the trucks that move oil from the eastern and western wells.

 

 

Meanwhile, SOHR activists documented the participation of the International Coalition in five joint security operations with SDF, namely raids and airdrops, arresting 18 ISIS members and commanders.

 

The joint security operation also left five ISIS members dead, where SOHR sources reported on June 5 that the International Coalition forces carried out an airdrop operation, accompanied by the “anti-terrorism” forces of SDF, targeting a house in Al-Dahlah village within SDF-held areas, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. After targeting the house and destroying it, violent armed clashes erupted between the raiding forces and members of “ISIS” cells holed up inside. The operation resulted in the killing of five members of “ISIS” cells: a 40-year-old person and his 17-year-old son, two members from Al-Bokamal area and one from Al-Bulil village, in addition to the arrest of two others, who are responsible for the bombings in the region.

 

 

In the Syrian desert, however, ISIS continued its operations, including ambushes, armed attacks and explosions, in areas under the control of the Syrian regime and its allies, especially in Al-Rasafah desert, the surrounding areas of Jabal Al-Bishri in Al-Raqqah, the frontlines of Ithriyah, Al-Rahjan and other frontlines in the eastern countryside of Hama, the desert of Al-Sukhnah, Palmyra in Homs countryside, Deir Ezzor desert and the administrative border between Al-Raqqah and Deir Ezzor.

 

According to SOHR sources, ISIS carried out 22 attacks in the past month, killing 53 regime soldiers and Iranian-backed militiamen, while ISIS lost two members in security operations in the desert. In addition, six civilians were killed in the same period in ISIS attacks in the Syrian desert.

 

Here is a regional distribution of those attacks:

 

• Deir Ezzor desert: Five operations left ten combatants dead.

 

• Homs desert: 14 operations left 39 combatants, 2 ISIS members and six civilians dead.

 

• Al-Raqqah desert: One operation left one combatant dead.

 

• Hama desert: Two operations left three combatants dead.

 

 

It is worth noting that ISIS also lost two members in incidents of security disorder in Daraa province.

 

Separately, the US General Command has announced that US aircraft executed an airstrike in Syria on June 16, which resulted in the death of a senior ISIS official called “Ossama Jamal Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Janabi.”

 

According to SOHR sources, Syrian Democratic Forces, which are ally forces of the International Coalition, did not carry out any security operations on that day. However, SDF have not denied the death of the ISIS commander in an operation carried out by US forces alone.

 

On the same day, SOHR activists have reported the death of a person carrying a Syrian ID, after a shell hit a site in the vicinity of “Kuwait Al-Rahma” camp in Afrin countryside.

 

SOHR activists examined the ID which the hit man was carrying on the day of the attack, and they found out that his name was “Ahmed Ali Al-Hussein” from Karm Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood in Homs city, and that he was born in 1983.

 

SOHR confirms that people in north-west Syria region can easily obtain fake IDs and IDs issued by the “Syrian Interim Government” after undergoing simple procedures.

 

In the same context, the “Syrian Interim Government,” which dominates the area where the man was killed, issued a statement confirming that the man was killed in bombardment with shells fired from SDF-controlled areas.

 

 

Islamic State’s abductees: ignored and unaccounted

 

Although nearly 63 months have passed since the International Coalition’s announcement of the defeat of ISIS which was a dominant force east of Euphrates River, and with the recent developments over the past period, however, silence still surrounds the issue of ISIS’s abductees. All sides remain quiet and provide no clarification on the fate of thousands of abductees, where fear continues to grow for the lives and fate of the 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 and Afrin, as well as the people of Deir Ezzor.

 

With the continuing crimes and violations against Syrian civilians, including death threats against SOHR workers by the Islamic State and other killers and criminals in Syria, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights renews its vows to continue its work by monitoring, documenting and publishing all violations and crimes that committed against the Syrian people.

 

We, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 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.

 

SOHR has been all along warning against ISIS resurgence and stressing that the defeat of ISIS in Syrian territory, as declared in 2019, was “symbolic”, as ISIS has been only eliminated as a controlling power in populated areas. The daily attacks by ISIS fighters and cells throughout Syria, clearly indicate that the “Islamic State” is still alive and kicking. While the frequent security campaigns and military operations by regime forces, Russia, International Coalition, and SDF have all failed so far to curb or hinder ISIS’s escalating activities.

 

The Syrian Observatory also points out that it had already warned, well before “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” declared itself as a “Caliphate State” in Syria and Iraq, that this organization did intend to work for the Syrian people and serve their interest, but rather ISIS continued to kill innocent Syrians, who had been suffering the brutality of war and violence and became displaced.

 

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