The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

After the large declining of its controlled areas and limiting its presence in separate enclaves, ISIS returns to life and begins carrying out attacks in several areas and prepares for others

ISIS returns to life again in the Syrian area, which the organization has limited presence there. After its presence was limited to about 5400 square km of the Syrian territory which is about 2.9% of the area of the Syrian territory, and ending its full presence in the countryside of Hama, Idlib,  most of the Syrian desert, and after its presence was limited to enclaves in the eastern desert of Homs and the southeastern desert of Deir Ezzor and the adjacent northern countryside o Deir Ezzor and the southern countryside of Hasaka, and southern Damascus, the SOHR monitored in the past 24 hours that ISIS carried out an attack in the vicinity of l-Sha’afa town, towards the eastern desert of the town located in the eastern banks of the Euphrates River against the US-backed SDF. The attack targeted a position of the SDF stationed in the area, while there is information that the organization controlled the positions and inflicted human losses in the ranks of its rivals,  in addition to the human losses in the organization’s ranks. This violent attack of ISIS comes weeks after the control of the organization declined in the eastern banks of the Eupbhrates River, within the towns of Abu Al-Hassan, al-Sha’afa, Al-Baghouz, Al-Bobdara, and its districts, following the entire end of its presence in the western banks of the Euphrates River, where the SDF managed to control most of the east of the Euphrates except for the aforementioned enclave, where reliable sources confirmed to the SOHR that the organization organized its ranks in the recent stage in order to attempt to expand the organization’s controlled areas at the expense of its rivals in its areas of presence.

Meanwhile, in the countryside of the same province of Deir Ezzor, clashes that have been taking place since the 17th of March 2018, as a result of a violent attack by the “Islamic State” organization on the area, where they managed to achieve advancement represented by taking the control of the Second Station “T2”, in the far south-eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored violent clashes taking place between the regime forces backed by armed militiamen loyal to them of Syrian, Arab and Asian nationalities against the members of the “Islamic State” organization, in areas in the vicinity of the Station, as a part of the effort of the regime forces to regain the control of this Station, while confirmed information received about the death of more members in the ranks of the both parties during these clashes after more than 14 members of the regime forces and gunmen loyal to them where killed during the attack of the organization and its control over the Station.

This attack in Deir Ezzor coincided with an attack took place days earlier in the capital Damascus, where ISIS carried out a violent attack in conjunction with implementing the agreement of Al-Kadam neighborhood between the regime forces and fighters in the neighborhood, which is located in the southern part of the capital. The SOHR documented that ISIS controlled most of Al-Kadam neighborhood, where the organization managed through the attack, which lasted for one week, to control Al-Kadam neighborhood and kill more than 62 members of the regime forces and their allied militiamen, where lots of the dead bodies were taken by the organization, and the SOHR received information from several intersected sources that a team entered yesterday Al-Kadam neighborhood after an agreement with ISIS to withdraw the dead bodies and transfer them to the regime’s controlled areas, and there is no information so far about the conditions of the regime to evacuate the dead bodies of the members of the regime forces, where there is no clear information till now whether there is an exchange for releasing of ISIS prisoners captured by the regime forces or entering food to the area controlled by the organization in the southern part of the capital, which includes large parts of Al-Yarmouk Camp, Al-Tadamon neighborhood and most of the areas of Al-Kadam neighborhood and Al-Hajar Al-Aswad neighborhood.

Meanwhile, the SOHR monitored preparations are underway by ISIS in Al-Yarmouk camp seems to be for carrying out an attack against Hayaat Tahrir Al-Sham controlled following the withdrawal of the Hayaat within the agreement reached with Al-Rahman Corps and the regime forces, which provides on the evacuation of fighters of Al-Rahman Corps, Tahrir Al-Sham and their families and the rest of Ahrar Al-Sham fighters from Jouber, Arbin, Zamlka to the Syrian north, similar to the attack that took place in Al-Kadam neighborhood on the 13th of March 2018.

And the SOHR published few months ago, that although the presence of the organization in the west of the Euphrates River ended on the 6th of December 2017, groups of its fighters meant to confuse the regime and its allies, by carrying out infiltrations and surprising attacks, within Deir Ezzor desert and the vicinity of Hmimeh area in the far of the north-eastern countryside of Homs, in conjunction with the attacks on areas in the eastern desert of Al-Sukhnah and attacks in other areas near the presence of the members of the organization who carry out these attacks in order to emphasize the strength of the organization and express its ability to carry out attacks and initiate them, and to result in the fall of the largest possible number of human losses in the ranks of the regime forces and their allies of non-Syrian nationalities.