Shocking statistics | ISIS carries out over 2,550 operations in areas controlled by regime forces and SDF since Coalition’s announcement on elimination of “Caliphate State,” killing nearly 4,100 civilians and combatants

On June 29, 2014, a video footage was circulated under the name of “Breaking Border,” announcing the establishment of the “Caliphate State.” The video called for pledging allegiance to “Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi” as the “Caliph of Muslims.” Since then, the “Islamic State” organisation started wreaking havoc in different cities, towns and villages across Syria, where ISIS members killed, tortured and displaced hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians under the pretext of “implementing Sharia,” as they described. However, ISIS “sharia” and extremist ideology were too far away from the tolerant principles of Islam.

 

ISIS even created new methods of killing and torture that have not been familiar or practiced before its establishment. In a few years, ISIS got gain extreme power, and with the escalation of its horrific violations and atrocities, many powers, such as the International Coalition, Syrian Democratic Forces, opposition factions, regime forces backed by Russian forces and militias, started to escalate counter operations curb its expansion and eliminate its presence in Syria.

 

Accordingly, different Syrian areas, which were under the control of the “Caliphate State” experienced scores of large-scale operations and fierce battles which came to an end with the official announcement on the defeat of ISIS in Syria in March 2019.

 

On the tenth anniversary of the announcement of the establishment of the “Caliphate State,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) highlights, in this report, highlights ISIS operations in Syria, which were carried out after the Counter-ISIS International Coalition command and the leaders of Syria Democratic Forces having announced the elimination of the so-called Caliphate of the “Islamic State” in March 2019.

 

We, at SOHR, would like to note out that SOHR confirmed, just after the issuance of the announcement of ISIS defeat in 2019, that this was a symbolic defeat, stressing then that ISIS was only defeated as a controlling power dominating specific populated areas in Syria, and the shocking figures and statistics in this report prove this fact.

 

 

Despite ongoing security campaigns, ISIS executes 1,660 operations in east Euphrates region

 

ISIS continues its operations in areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are manifested in armed attacks and assassinations through gunfire, attacks with sharp tools and planting IEDs and landmines. Those operations are met by frequent and periodical security campaigns by SDF and International Coalition Forces, targeting ISIS cells and individuals accused of dealing with ISIS. However, those campaigns have failed so far to bring security and stability in those areas.

 

Since the Coalition’s announcement about the elimination of ISIS in 2019, SOHR activists have documented over 1,660 operations carried out by ISIS cells in areas controlled by the Autonomous Administration in Deir Ezzor, Al-Hasakah, Aleppo and Al-Raqqah. Those operations left 1341 fatalities; they are as follows:

 

• 412 civilians, including 24 children and 25 women.

 

• 929 members of military formations operating in SDF-controlled areas.

 

Here is a yearly breakdown of ISIS operations and fatalities in that period, between March 2019 and late June 2024:

 

-2019: Over 331 operations left 415 fatalities:

 

• 131 civilians, including six children and five women.

 

• 284 members of military formations operating in SDF-controlled areas.

 

 

-2020: Over 480 operations left 208 fatalities:

 

• 86 civilians, including ten children and six women.

 

• 122 members of military formations operating in SDF-controlled areas.

 

 

-2021: Over 344 operations left 229 fatalities:

 

• 93 civilians, including five children and nine women.

 

• 136 members of military formations operating in SDF-controlled areas.

 

 

2022: Over 202 operations left 310 fatalities:

 

• 61 civilians, including a child and two women.

 

• 249 members of military formations operating in SDF-controlled areas.

 

 

2023: Over 165 operations left 120 fatalities:

 

• 26 civilians, including a child and two women.

 

• 89 members of military formations operating in SDF-controlled areas.

 

 

2024: Over 138 operations left 75 fatalities:

 

• 15 civilians, including a child and a woman.

 

• 49 members of military formations operating in SDF-controlled areas.

 

 

 

 

ISIS kills nearly 2,750 people in the Syrian desert, disregarding Russian airstrikes

 

ISIS has noticeably escalated its operations in the Syrian desert, which clearly indicates that the “Islamic State” is still alive and kicking and able to inflict heavy losses. Those operations were manifested in intensive attacks against regime forces and their allies in different areas in the desert, where ISIS is deployed in an area of some 4,000 square kilometres scattered in the Syrian desert, precisely the area stretching from Jabal Abu Rajmayn area in north-eastern Palmyra to Deir Ezzor desert and western countryside, areas in Al-Sukhnah desert and areas to the north of the administrative border of Al-Suwaidaa province.

 

ISIS operations in the Syrian desert, which are carried out almost daily and include ambushes, armed attacks and explosions, have been concentrated in Aleppo-Hama-Al-Raqqah triangle, the eastern desert of Homs and the deserts of Deir Ezzor and Al-Raqqah. Those operations are met with security campaigns by regime forces and their proxy militias in the Syrian desert, as well as intensive airstrikes by Russian fighter jets which target ISIS positions and hideouts in the desert.

 

SOHR documented the death of 2,744 people in over 914 attacks carried out by ISIS in different areas in the Syrian desert since its symbolic defeat in 2019.

 

The fatalities are distributed as follows:

 

• 215 civilians, including a child and two women.

 

• 2,529 members of regime forces and their proxy militias.

 

Here is a yearly breakdown of ISIS operations and fatalities in that period, between March 2019 and late June 2024:

 

 

-2019: 144 operations left 309 members of regime forces and their proxy militias dead.

 

 

-2020: 202 operations left 780 members of regime forces and their proxy militias dead.

 

 

-2021: 143 operations left 396 members of regime forces and their proxy militias dead.

 

 

-2022: 101 operations left 266 fatalities:

 

• 261 members of regime forces and their proxy militias.

 

• Five civilians.

 

 

-2023: 171 operations left 578 fatalities:

 

• 411 members of regime forces and their proxy militias.

 

• 167 civilians, including a woman.

 

 

-2024: 153 operations left 415 fatalities:

 

• 372 members of regime forces and their proxy militias.

 

• 43 civilians, including a child and a woman.

 

 

 

 

Thousands of ISIS members and commanders killed and arrested

 

ISIS have lost over 2,063 members and commanders since the official announcement on the elimination of the “Islamic State” in Syria in 2019. Those members and commanders were killed in airstrikes, ground operations, assassinations, security campaigns and clashes in different areas across Syria.

 

ISIS fatalities are distributed as follows:

 

• 622 killed in security campaigns by SDF and International Coalition Forces.

 

• 39 members and commanders, including “Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi” and “Abu Abdullah Qardash,” were killed in security campaigns and operations by International Coalition Forces in HTS-held areas in Idlib and areas controlled by Turkish forces.

 

• 898 killed in Russian airstrikes in the desert.

 

• 437 killed in clashes with regime forces.

 

• 67 killed in security campaigns and attacks in Daraa province.

 

In addition, over 2,200 ISIS members and commanders were arrested by the International Coalition and SDF in east Euphrates region and other Syrian areas in the same period.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.