The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

71 months since the declaration of Caliphate State: ISIS cells intensify attacks in areas controlled by SDF and Coalition, and expand operations in Turkish-controlled areas

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

June 2020

Although 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” in March 2019, the recent developments on the ground indicate that ISIS has not been fully eliminated. ISIS continues launching military operations and attacks met with security campaigns by Coalition forces in cooperation with Syria Democratic Forces throughout SDF-controlled areas, in addition to military operations by Russian and regime forces against ISIS cells in areas under their control.

Despite the great losses which ISIS has sustained, including the loss of its controlled areas with the exception of its positions in the Syrian desert, the killing of the organization’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdad in a U.S. airstrike, and the arrest of a large number of ISIS commanders, ISIS cells exploit opportunities to create security vacuum and carry out assassinations, suggesting that the “Islamic State” is still well and alive.

During the recent period, ISIS cells stepped up their operations across Syria, exploiting the deteriorating security. In SDF-controlled areas, ISIS has escalated its 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 May 2020 to the 29th of June 2020, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that the group continued its resurgence after being transformed from “caliphate” to “sleeper cell” organization.

Instability and security campaigns … ISIS exploits security vacuum

In June, International Coalition forces carried out several airdrops, encircling several areas and arresting many ISIS members of different nationalities.

 

On June 22, SOHR sources said that ISIS prisoners carried out a riot in Al-Kasra prison in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor, demanding improvement to their situation and trials. SDF commandos intervened by cordoning off the prison, and they were able to end the riot.

 

On June 18, ISIS unleashed a new attack on the triangle of Aleppo-Hama-Al-Raqqah, which was followed by fierce clashes with regime forces and loyalists. The clashes left 15 casualties among regime forces, six of whom have been confirmed dead. It is worth noting that that was the fifth attack of its kind in less than ten days. ISIS attacks were not confined to targeting regime forces, as SOHR sources reported on June 16 that ISIS members killed four shepherds, stole their sheep and set agricultural crops on fire in the regime-controlled area of Badiyat al-Ghanem al-Ali in eastern Al-Raqqa province.

 

A day earlier, reliable sources informed the Syrian Observatory that unknown gunmen, believed to be ISIS cells, stormed the building of “Municipality of Al-Shaab” in Al-Tayyanah town in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. The attackers gathered all employees in one place and executed the municipality’s head by firing squad in front of the employees.

 

 

Turkish-controlled areas: attempts to exert influence

 

As SOHR monitors and tracks ISIS resurgence across Syria, Observatory sources have confirmed that ISIS cells continue their activities in areas under the control of Turkish forces and the factions of “Euphrates Shield” operation. On June 26, ISIS announced, via affiliated accounts on social media, its responsibility for the assassination of an official in the real estate offices who was shot dead a day earlier in Al-Bab city in north-eastern Aleppo. That was not the first time for ISIS to claim responsibility for assassinations in Al-Bab city which is controlled by Turkish forces and “Euphrates Shield” factions. ISIS had acknowledged the assassination of a regime dissident colonel who became a commander in the Turkish-backed “National Army”.

 

ISIS has been stepping up its activities in the areas of “Euphrates Shield” at a time when the “Iraqi battalion” intensified its search and attempts to hunt them down.

 

On June 7, very reliable sources provided the Syrian Observatory with detailed information about a battalion which comprised tens of ISIS members. The battalion, which operates under the banner of “Ahrar Al-Sharqiyyah” and works for the Turkish intelligence, consists of nearly 40 Iraqi fighters.

 

According to SOHR sources, the battalion works in northern Syria with a task of carrying out executions and detonations. In addition, they are tasked with spying on ISIS foreign members who try to flee to the Turkish territory and the undercover members in Aleppo countryside, so that the battalion can arrest them. Some of those arrested ISIS members were imprisoned or executed, while others were taken to Turkey in return for large sums of money. Reliable SOHR sources confirmed that those members in prisons have been compromised in order to be sent to fight in Libya.

 

While on June 20 reliable SOHR sources confirmed that the person who was killed in drone attack near Al-Bab city, was a prominent ISIS commander in Al-Raqqah.

 

The Syrian Desert “Al Badia”… 1.8 percent of Syrian territory turned into deadly battlefield

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 June 21, ISIS unleashed a new attack on positions of regime forces and loyalists on the outskirts of Al-Mayadeen towards Deir Ezzor desert. Fierce clashes erupted between the two sides in the area, amid exchange of intense fire. ISIS managed to kill eight regime soldiers and capture three others.

 

It is worth noting that the clashes took place near Al-Mazare’ area which has the largest concentrations of Iranian forces and loyal militias in that region. However, neither ISIS attacked the Iranian positions nor the Iranians supported the regime forces to repel ISIS attack.

 

During the past 15 months, ISIS has continued its operations throughout the Syrian desert where the Syrian regime forces and regime-backed militias, including the Iranian militias, the Lebanese and Iraqi Hezbollah, are located. The clashes during this period, from March 2019 to date, included detonations, executions, surprise attacks, and ambushes. While the large reinforcement brought in recently by the Iranians and regime forces to the desert have been able to contain ISIS’ growing activities and attacks which left hundreds of casualties in the past 15 months.

Since the 24th of March 2019, SOHR has documented the killing of at least 570 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, 11 shepherds and another woman 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 212 ISIS members were also killed in attacks and bombardment in the same period.

In April, “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 aged 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.

On May 28, an Iraqi refugee was found dead in front of his tent in the camp’s first sector. It was found that his skull was punctured with a sharp tool which caused his death. The perpetrators remained unknown, while the blame is pointed at extremist women of ISIS families.

While on May 23, Observatory sources reported that an Iraqi refugee was found dead while distinguishing a fire broke out in three tents in the camp’s first sector. According to medical sources, the victim was killed after being hit several times on his head.

Islamic State’s abductees: ignored and unaccounted

Although nearly 14 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 people and harnessed them to build a “caliphate”, and traded open back and forth with one of Syria’s neighbouring 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.