72 months since the declaration of Caliphate State: ISIS still vibrant and steps up attacks in the Syrian desert and SDF-controlled areas
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
July 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.
Instability and security campaigns
In July, the situation in Al-Sukhnah desert flared up, as clashes escalated between regime forces and ISIS. On July 13, Observatory sources reported that Russian jets executed several airstrikes on ISIS positions in Al-Sukhnah desert in eastern Homs. The Russian airstrikes coincide at that time with renewed battles between regime forces and ISIS. While on July 10, SOHR sources monitored a fresh battle between ISIS and regime forces, following other clashes between the two sides on July 7, as a part of ISIS ongoing attack on areas in the triangle of “Aleppo-Hama-Al-Raqqah”
In the same region, SOHR activists documented more fatalities, on July 22, in the wake of intensive aerial and ground bombardment and fierce clashes between ISIS and regime forces in the triangle of “Aleppo-Hama-Al-Raqqah”. The number of fatalities among regime forces rose to 15, while 11 ISIS members were also killed in the fierce clashes and airstrikes.
During the past 16 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 16 months.
On July 26, SOHR activists reported that ISIS members unleashed a fierce attack on Al-Khafiyyah village of Al-Saan district in the eastern countryside of Hama. The attackers killed a person from the village, stole several vehicles and set several houses on fire.
Since the 24th of March 2019, SOHR has documented the killing of at least 627 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 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 273 ISIS members were also killed in attacks and bombardment in the same period.
In SDF-controlled areas, SOHR sources reported on July 20 that the continuation of SDF security campaign in areas in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. SDF arrested two ISIS members in the village of Al-Zar in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, one of whom was an Iraqi national. Moreover, SDF stormed and destroyed six river crossings and confiscated rafts used for transporting most of the fuel and crude oil supplies. Islamic State members and various types of weapons were also smuggled via these crossings.
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 July 19, reliable SOHR sources confirmed that the administration of “Al-Hawl camp” in the far south-eastern Al-Hasakah brought hundreds of ISIS families out of the camp to their towns and villages in Deir Ezzor.
According to SOHR sources, this decision came after mediations by tribe elders in the area. It was expected that 115 ISIS families of nearly 460 women and children from Al-Baghouz, Al-Susah and other areas in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor would leave Al-Hawl camp.
While on July 4, SOHR sources reported that extremist women of ISIS families set four tents on fire in the camp of Iraqi refugee in “Al-Hawl mini-state”. Meanwhile, rescue teams managed to extinguish the fires, and no casualties had been reported.
“Asayish” forces launched a security campaign in June in Al-Hawl camp with the purpose of putting an end to the cells formed by ISIS women inside the camp and to the violations which escalated recently. The campaign also aimed to remove the sharia courts and sections for training the children on ISIS’ ideology, which had been set by ISIS women in the camp.
Islamic State’s abductees: ignored and unaccounted
Although nearly 16 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.