The Islamic State group is stepping up its attacks in Syria, where an ambush on Monday left at least 26 dead among regime fighters, while the UN warned a few days ago of the “threat” posed by the jihadists and their families in IDP camps.
After the fall of their self-proclaimed “caliphate” in 2019 and their rout, the jihadists having returned to hiding have increased in recent months the deadly attacks and targeted assassinations in Syria. They are targeting the army of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but also Kurdish forces.
ISIS members ambushed Damascus soldiers and allied militiamen conducting search operations in the eastern desert on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said. .
At least seven soldiers and nineteen militiamen were killed in the attack near the town of Al-Mayadine, said the NGO, which has a large network of sources in the country at war.
According to her, eleven jihadists are also dead.
After the self-proclamation in 2014 of a “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq, the IS has chained the setbacks. Baghdad finally announced its defeat in Iraq at the end of 2017 and then collapsed in March 2019 in Syria, facing Kurdish forces backed by the United States.
But the vast Syrian desert, which stretches from the central provinces of Homs and Hama to that of Deir Ezzor in the far east, is the scene of regular fighting between jihadists and regime forces, supported by air strikes from the United States. Russian ally.
“Latent threat”
At least 37 regime soldiers were killed in late December in an IS attack, according to OSDH. It was one of the deadliest assaults since the fall of the “caliphate”.
According to a UN report published in early February, the “insurgency” of the jihadist organization continues in Syria and Iraq and it has “10,000 active fighters”, including “a few thousand foreign terrorist fighters”.
This report also insists on the “latent threat” represented by the jihadists imprisoned and their families in camps for displaced persons of the Kurdish forces, in particular that of Al-Hol.
Since the start of the year, at least fourteen murders have been carried out in this camp in northeastern Syria, the largest in the country, Cheikhmous Ahmed, a local official in the country, told AFP on Monday. semi-autonomous Kurdish administration in charge of displaced persons.
He mentioned “three beheadings” as well as executions by shooting using weapons equipped with “silencers”, specifying that ten Iraqis and four Syrians were among the victims.
According to him, “IS cells in the camp” target those who cooperate with the administration “, with the aim of” sowing chaos and fear “.
A humanitarian source recently spoke of tribal tensions behind some of the killings.
Beheadings
Al-Hol accommodates more than 60,000 people, more than 80% of women and children.
“Some detainees perceive Al-Hol as the last vestige of the + caliphate +”, underlines the UN report, recalling that the camp accommodates around 10,000 foreign women and children living in a fenced annex.
“Some minors would be indoctrinated and prepared to become future fighters” of the Islamic State group, warns the international body.
Several incidents sometimes involving IS supporters, including attacks on guards or NGO workers, took place in this camp.
The camps for displaced persons held by the Kurds have suffered several escape attempts – the price of which, according to the UN report, can vary between 2,500 and 14,000 dollars.
The Kurdish authorities regularly call on the countries concerned to repatriate their nationals, women and children. But most states, especially in the West, balk. Several, including France, have nevertheless returned a limited number of orphans.
The Syrian conflict, triggered in March 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations, has become more complex over the years with the involvement of a multitude of armed factions and foreign powers and the rise of the jihadists.
The war claimed more than 387,000 lives.