TERRORISMIS Growing Stronger in Syria
Slowly but surely, the Islamic State terror group seems to be regaining its footing in Syria, launching new and brazen attacks against forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Intelligence estimates put the number of Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq at about 2,500 — more than double estimates from late January. And a series of new studies is only adding to the concern.
Slowly but surely, the Islamic State terror group seems to be regaining its footing in Syria, launching new and brazen attacks against forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Just-released data from U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces across the Middle East and South Asia, puts the number of Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq at about 2,500 — more than double estimates from late January.
And a series of new studies is adding to the concern.
The nonprofit Counter Extremism Project (CEP), in a report released earlier this week, counted at least 69 confirmed attacks by the Islamic State group, also known as IS, ISIS or Daesh, in central Syria last month.
The attacks resulted in the deaths of at least 84 Syrian soldiers and 44 civilians, and more than doubled the total number of confirmed IS operations for all of 2024.
“March was, by every metric, the most violent month of ISIS’s Badia [central Syrian desert] insurgency since late 2017, when the group first lost control of its territory,” according to the CEP report.
“The unique and alarming difference in March was the scale of attacks against security forces,” the report added. “ISIS cells successfully and consistently targeted regime outposts and ambushed patrols, frequently capturing and executing soldiers.”
And at a time when most of the world is focused on Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, blamed for the deadly attack last month on a concert hall near Moscow, CEP is not alone in its warning about the group’s Syrian operatives.
A separate report this week published by the pro-Kurdish Rojava Information Center (RIC), found IS maintained a high tempo of attacks in parts of Syria nominally controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF.
RIC’s monthly sleeper cell report counted 27 Islamic State attacks in March, following 26 in February and 16 this past January.
The RIC report also noted a heavy focus by IS on targeting SDF troops and locations, including at least three attacks from March 7 through March 15.
The concerns about the upswing in IS attacks across Syria are not new.
Officials with the SDF’s political wing told VOA this past January that the terror group’s activities had “increased significantly,” both in areas patrolled by the SDF and in areas overseen by the Assad regime.
An intelligence assessment compiled by the United Nations and issued in January, based on information from member states, likewise warned IS was poised for a possible resurgence.
