69 months after the declaration of Caliphate State: escalating attacks .. deteriorating security .. ongoing security campaigns .. new mass grave discovered
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
April 2020
On the 23rd of March 2019, 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” and the end of battles against the organization. The announcement asserted that the following phase would focus on security campaigns to eliminate ISIS remnants . However, such security campaigns, carried out up to date, fail to bring the spread of ISIS ideology and activities to an end, since ISIS cells exploit opportunities to create security vacuum and carry out assassinations, suggesting that the “Islamic State” is still well and alive.
Although the killing of the organization’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdad in a U.S. airstrike, the group is regaining strength, and this is clearly reflected in the increasing number of sleeper cells’ operations in various areas in north-eastern Syria, and in the stepping up of activities such as kidnappings for ransom, assassinations, extortion, death threats and the illegal taxations on civilians under the name of “zakat”.
From the 29th of March 2020 to the 29th of April 2020, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that the group continued its resurgence after being transformed from “caliphate” to “sleeper cell” organization, waiting for the right moment to perpetrate its attacks.
All developments coincide with ongoing co-operation between the International Coalition and Syria Democratic Forces, in addition to the regime’s operations in its areas, to undermine ISIS cells’ activity.
Security chaos, assassinations and extortion… ISIS exploits disorder
Exploiting the security chaos that prevails in regime and SDF-held areas, ISIS cells carries out several assassinations and targeting against SDF, Syrian regime and a number of civilians, as well as blackmailing civilians into paying ransoms under the name or pretext of “Zakat”.
On April 15, a group of ISIS members on motorcycles stormed Ghariba al-Sharqiya village in Deir Ezzor countryside and confiscated large quantities of tobacco and burned them before leaving the village. A day earlier, SDF public security arrested ten people in Al-Baguz town for “dealing” with ISIS sleeper cells, including an emir in Al-Baguz town in eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. Explosive bullets used for assassinations were found in the possession of arrested people.
While on April 12, ISIS cells blew up the house of ex-member of the “Islamic State” in Al-Dahiki village in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. According to SOHR sources, the reason behind this attack was that the former ISIS member had gone to regime-held areas in Deir Ezzor city. ISIS cells also threatened to kill the father of the ex-member’s wife , if he allowed her to get back to her husband.
Reliable sources informed SOHR on April 27, that eight prisoners of the Islamic State escaped in mysterious circumstances from a prison belonging to Turkish-backed division of “Al-Hamza” in Al-Bab city, northeast of Aleppo. The blame was pointed at their jailers amid suspicions that they were paid for facilitating their escape.
The Syrian Desert “Al Badia”… ISIS controls 1.8 percent of Syrian territory
Despite the fact that the so-called “caliphate” was eliminated and announced defeated in Syria, ISIS still controls some 3,283 square kilometers, equivalent to 1.8 percent of the total area of Syria.
The group’s activities in the Syrian desert, west of the Euphrates River, in areas controlled by regime forces and allied militias of Syrian and non-Syrian citizens are still continuing, with attacks and ambushes in al-Suwayda desert, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and Homs.
According to SOHR statistics, the group currently controls an area from Jabal Abu Rajmin area in the northeast of Palmyra, to the desert of Deir ez-Zor and western countryside, as well as al-Sukhnah desert, north of the administrative border of Sweida province.
On April 9, ISIS unleashed an attack on regime positions in Al-Sukhnah desert. At that time, Syrian Observatory activists reported seeing large military reinforcement of regime forces and loyalists arriving at positions and stations in Al-Sukhnah and its outskirts, the most important of which was the 3rd Station. These developments came in the wake of the escalating ISIS resurgence in the Syrian desert, which culminated in the attack unleashed by ISIS in Al-Sukhnah region. Reliable sources informed SOHR that regime forces recovered all positions they lost recently to ISIS in Al-Sukhnah. The fierce clashes left at least 32 fatalities among regime soldiers and loyalists, while the number of ISIS fatalities reached 26.
ISIS activities are escalating throughout the Syrian desert where regime forces and loyal militiamen of Syrian and foreign nationalities are present, in particular Iranian militias, Lebanese and Iraqi Hezbollah.
Over the past 13 months, ISIS resurgence was concentrated in the desert of both Deir Ezzor and Homs where ISIS members and cells have launched various types of offensives, from detonations, ambushes, planting landmines and IEDs, to the almost daily surprising attacks.
The large reinforcement recently brought in by regime forces and Iranian militias as well as the escalating Russian airstrikes have not been able to contain ISIS growing activity in the past 13 months.
ISIS attacks between the 24th of March 2019 and today, the 29th of April 2020, left hundreds of casualties. SOHR has documented during this period the killing of at least 496 regime soldiers and loyalists of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities, including at least two Russians, and 127 Iranian-backed militiamen of non-Syrian nationalities. All were killed in attacks, bombings and ambushes by the “Islamic State”, west of Euphrates in the deserts of Deir Ezzor, Homs, and Al-Suwaidaa.
Also four civilians working in gas fields, two shepherds and four other people were killed and documented by SOHR in the same period, from late March 2019 until today. They were killed in attacks by ISIS cells. While 179 ISIS members were also killed in attacks and bombardment in the same period.
On April 13, “First Responders Team” of “Al-Raqqah Civil Council” discovered a new mass grave in Al-Raqqah province, containing the remains of nearly 200 bodies, in the village of Al-Hamrat in the eastern countryside of Al-Raqqa.
The bodies most probably belong to civilians and fighters who had been killed during ISIS control on the area.
Very reliable SOHR sources confirmed that most of the bodies were of the regime-backed militiamen of the “17th Division” who had been executed by ISIS during the organization’s control on the area.
Meanwhile, the forensic team reported that preliminary estimates indicate that the discovered bodies are of people age between 25 and 40.
Al Hool camp “ISIS mini-state” : Chaos continues and no solution on the horizon
With the end of the so-called “caliphate state”, attention has turned to a new crisis that is considered to be the legacy of the group, Al-Hawl refugee camp for the displaced, which has become more like a “mini-state” of the group’s members and families. A true crisis that most countries in the world still ignore in order to avoid repatriating their unwanted citizens who joined the group. Chaos and lack of security are widespread within the camp, making it a time bomb that may result in the resurgence of “ Islamic State” or other terrorist groups more dangerous than ISIS.
According to SOHR statistics, Al Hawl camp is home to at least 68,607 people: 8,450 Iraqi families consisting of 30,765 Iraqi citizens; 7,809 Syrian families consisting of 28,069 Syrian nationals; and 9,773 people of European, Asian, African and other nationalities, among 2,824 families.
With the widespread security chaos all over the camp, extremist women of ISIS families killed an Iraqi volunteer in the ranks of Syria Democratic Forces, with a hammer.
On January 15, Reliable sources informed the Syrian Observatory that two children died and their mother was injured, after a fire broke out in a tent in ‘Al Hawl mini-state’ camp. The burnt victims are family members of ISIS group of Turkish nationality. The fire was likely to be caused by extremist women of the group families’ members.
Islamic State’s abductees: ignored and unaccounted for despite the defeat of the “caliphate state”
Although nearly 12 months have passed since the International Coalition’s announcement of the defeat of ISIS which was a dominant force east of the 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 (Kobane) area and Afrin, as well as the people of Deir ez-Zor.
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.
The Syrian Observatory also points out that it had already warned, well before “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” announced itself as “ 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”, and controlled the wealth and resources of Syrian peole and harnessed them to build a “caliphate”, and traded open back and forth with one of Syria’s neighboring country.
The Syrian Observatory also renews its appeal to the international community for a solution to “Al Hawl mini-state” crisis, which is considered a genuine threat to everyone.
At the Syrian Observatory, we renew our call to the UN Security Council, all organizations concerned and countries that claim to respect human rights in the world to act immediately to stop the crimes and violations committed against the Syrian people by the Islamic State and to establish appropriate courts for prosecuting the perpetrators. We call on all parties concerned to help the Syrian people to reach freedom and achieve democracy, justice and equality, which will preserve the rights of all Syrian people, with all its various diverse constituents, without discriminating against religions, sects and ethnicities that have been and will continue to coexist in Syria now and in the future despite all the media campaigns which are actively working to destroy the diverse social fabrics of the Syrian nation.