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Foreign Policy warns that the contemplated withdrawal of US troops from Syria would clear the way for the Islamic State.
Not much has been written about ISIS since its defeat in Baghouz, Syria, in early 2019, although its fighters continued to operate both near the Syria-Iraq border and in the mountainous areas near Mosul, Iraq. Sometimes the Americans or Russians also raided his positions near the Iraqi-Syrian border.
Iran last attacked its positions in the region with ballistic missiles in January, but that was overshadowed by simultaneous attacks on Erbil, Iraq, where missiles landed near the U.S. consulate, and rocket fire from Pakistan.
Iraq and Syria under attack: prison, spy headquarters and US base attacked
Foreign Policy noted that Islamic State activity has increased since October 7 last year, when the Palestinian terror movement Hamas attacked Israel. Already on November 8, he carried out coordinated attacks with automatic weapons in the provinces of Raqqa, Deir ez-Zour and Homs in eastern Syria, killing four government soldiers and 26 National Defense Forces militiamen.
This year, activity increased again – in the first ten days of the new year there were 35 attacks in seven of Syria’s fourteen provinces. The Islamic State carried out over a hundred attacks worldwide at the same time, the deadliest of which was the double murder on January 3 in Kerman, Iran, in which 85 people died. As a result, IS positions in Syria became the target of a missile attack by Iran.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the massacre in Iran
The message calling for killing wherever possible was released on January 4 by the group’s spokesman, Abu Hudaydah Ansari. In it, he condemned Israeli operations but also criticized Hamas’ ties to Tehran, discredited Palestinian political leaders and accused Arab regimes of treason for making secret deals with Israel.
Above all, he called on supporters in the US and Europe to carry out attacks in support of Muslims in Gaza “in the hearts of the homes of Jews and Christians” – in synagogues and churches. This emerges from a statement published on the website of MEMRI, which monitors the jihadist and Salafist scene.
“Do not differentiate between unbelieving civilians and soldiers, for they are all unbelievers and should be judged in the same way. The armies of Jews and Christians attack Muslim countries with their planes and do not differentiate between civilians and soldiers. Your bombs show no mercy. Let them know that their crimes in Palestine, Iraq, the Levant and other Muslim countries will lead to a hunt for them in their homelands in Washington, Paris, London and Rome.”
Although the words seem exaggerated, the Islamic State is growing stronger, Foreign Policy warns. Even the assassination of its leader in 2023 did not lead to the organization’s dissolution.
The number of attacks has increased over the past year
Over the last year, the scope and frequency of Islamic State attacks have increased. The Counter Extremist Project, which also monitors IS activities, noted that the Islamic State carried out at least 212 attacks last year, mostly in desert areas of Syria, killing 502 people.
In August, it managed to kill 33 Syrian soldiers in an attack in Mayadin, Deir ez-Zor province, and 10 pro-government militiamen in the former ISIS capital of Raqqa, Al Jazeera reported. In April, he led successful clashes with members of Wagner’s group near Kaum, on the borders of Raqqa, Deir az-Zaur and Homs provinces, the Middle East Institute wrote.
In December it carried out “only” 14 attacks in the provinces of Homs, Hamas, Raqqa, Aleppo and Deir ez-Zour. They killed 19 government soldiers and six civilians, fewer than in November. This comes as fighting has ended over the Dubai gas field in Homs province, which the Islamic State took over in October but failed to hold.
Terrorists are again raising “taxes” and “tolls”.
However, the fighting is only the visible tip of the iceberg. The terrorist organization also has to protect itself, which in eastern and central Syria not only ends with kidnappings and extortion, but in certain areas IS also collects so-called taxes from all residents – from doctors to shopkeepers to farmers. She determines them based on her own findings about her income. He even gives them a receipt saying they paid him. Truck drivers also have to pay tolls.
This does not attract as much attention as IS temporarily taking control of a more populated area or a gas field, but it creates the basis of its economic power. He is no longer only active in the desert in eastern Syria, but has also returned to Daraa in the south of the country.
In this context, Foreing Policy warns that the Americans are considering withdrawing 800 troops from Syria, where they are helping the local Kurdish SDF militia counter attacks by the Islamic State and its efforts to free its imprisoned members, which number about 10,000 twenty amounts to withstand overcrowded camps and prisons. The US regional command CENTCOM had already classified it as an army-in-waiting the year before.
At the same time, around 50,000 of their women and children are interned in the camps. Some 25,000 children have been described by CENTCOM commander Michale Kurilla as “the potential next generation of the Islamic State.” As early as the end of 2022, he warned that these children had to be repatriated because they were the target of radicalization in the camps.
The Islamic State is exploiting not only the tensions in the region, but also the global tensions following the Russian attack on Ukraine. The latter worsened the ability to coordinate operations against the Islamic State, which was previously attacked not only by the US-led coalition but also by Russian forces supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad and the Iranians.
We will find you, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has threatened the Islamic State
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