ISIS in July 2024 | 22 attacks SDF-controlled areas, mostly in Deir Ezzor, and 16 other attacks in Syrian desert leave nearly 35 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 120th month after the declaration of “Al-Baghdadi’s Caliphate,” ISIS carried out 22 operations, including armed attacks and explosions, in areas controlled by SDF. Those operations left seven fatalities: four civilians and three members of military formations operating in SDF-controlled areas.
Those operations are distributed regionally as follows:
- Deir Ezzor: 20 operations left three combatant and three civilians dead.
- Al-Raqqah: One operation left one civilian dead.
- Aleppo: One operation left no fatalities.
Meanwhile, SOHR activists documented the participation of the International Coalition in six joint security operations with SDF, namely raids and airdrops, arresting 16 ISIS members and commanders.
The joint security operation also left two ISIS members dead, where SOHR sources that two persons were killed and two others were arrested, all were former ISIS members, during armed clashes with International Coalition Forces, after International Coalition Forces had carried out an airdrop on July 27 in cooperation with the Internal Security Forces “Asayish” to arrest a cell affiliated with ISIS in Al-Karamah area in Al-Raqqah countryside.
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 16 attacks in the Syrian desert in the past month, killing 26 members of regime forces and their proxy militias. In addition, six civilians were killed in the same period in ISIS attacks in the desert.
Here is a regional distribution of those attacks:
- Deir Ezzor desert: Eight operations left two civilians and eight combatants dead.
- Homs desert: Four operations left seven combatants dead.
- Al-Raqqah desert: Four operations left four civilians and 11 combatant dead.
Islamic State’s abductees: ignored and unaccounted
Although nearly 64 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.
