The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

78 months since the declaration of Caliphate State | Nearly 155 regime soldiers and loyalists killed in clashes with ISIS, while over 50 operations hit SDF-held areas

January 2021 experiences the most violent military escalation ever since ISIS announced eliminated

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, recent developments on the ground indicate that ISIS has not been fully eliminated. ISIS continues launching military operations and counter attacks which are met with security campaigns by Coalition forces and their Syria Democratic Forces partner throughout SDF-controlled areas, in addition to military operations by Russian and regime forces against ISIS cells in areas under their control. However, ISIS cells are still able to exploit opportunities to create security vacuum and carry out assassinations, which clearly indicate that the “Islamic State” is still alive and kicking.

 

 

Areas under the control of regime forces and allies: daily intensive operations leave the largest monthly death toll

 

Despite Russian and regime aerial advantage and intensive airstrikes on ISIS positions, ISIS is noticeably stepping up its operations in scattered areas of the Syrian desert, targeting regime forces and their proxy militias through ambushes, surprise attacks and deadly explosions.

 

In the past month, from December 29 to date, the areas of Aleppo-Hama-Al-Raqqah triangle, Homs and Deir Ezzor deserts experienced the most violent wave of ISIS military escalation since stepping up its operations in 2019, while Russia and regime military operations continued almost daily as a part of their attempts to put an end to ISIS activities .

 

On December 30, eight officers among 39 members of regime forces were killed in an attack on military buses on Homs-Deir Ezzor highway. It is worth noting that some bodies charred due to the outbreak of fires during this attack which was the most violent ever since ISIS started to step up its operations.

 

In the wake of ISIS intensive operations, Russian and regime forces and their proxy militias launched large-scale security campaigns in the past month, combing the Syrian desert and searching for ISIS cells, in an attempt to put an end to these operations, while SOHR documented over 1,100 Russian airstrikes on positions in the Syrian Desert in this month.

 

The latest security campaign, which started on January 16, led by Russian forces with the participation of joint Russian-backed forces of the 5th Corps, the Palestinian “Liwaa Al-Quds” and the “National Defence Forces” with the aim of securing the highway between Homs and Deir Ezzor, from Kabajeb and Al-Shawla in western Deir Ezzor to Al-Sukhnah.

 

According to SOHR statistics, ISIS managed to kill 153 regime soldiers and loyalists in the Syrian desert in the past month, including 70 members who were killed in five ambushes by ISIS, while the rest were killed in attacks, clashes and landmines and IEDs explosions. Also, ISIS lost 81 members in the same period in Russian airstrikes and clashes with regime forces and their proxy militias.

 

The Syrian Observatory had reported that ISIS gained new strength through reuniting and regrouping its cells which were scattered in the desert, SDF-held areas, areas under the control of Turkish forces and their proxies and Turkish territory, after the Counter-ISIS International Coalition announced the elimination of the “Islamic State.”

 

 

Coalition and SDF-held areas: ISIS’ “comfortable” resurgence and “timid” security campaigns

 

ISIS cells are numerous and have been widely active, moving in SDF-held areas “comfortably”, while its operations in the region have included armed attacks and assassinations through gunfire, attacks with sharp tools and planting IEDs and landmines. Despite the escalating security campaigns by SDF and the International Coalition, including periodical arrests targeting individuals accused of “belonging to ISIS cells”, these campaigns have failed so far to put an end to ISIS escalating operations or even hinder them.

 

Since early January 2021, the Syrian Observatory could document over 51 operations, including armed attacks and explosions, carried out by ISIS cells in SDF-held areas in Deir Ezzor, Al-Hasakah, Aleppo and Al-Raqqah provinces. According to SOHR statistics, these attacks left 34 people dead as follows: 16 civilians and 18 members of Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), the Internal Security Forces (Asayish) and Self-Defense Forces, all killed by IED and landmine explosions, direct gunfire, and stabbing to death with sharp tools. The fatalities included prominent figures such as “Haj Talyoush” who was one of the Ekaydat tribe’s elders, a dignitary of Al-Bakeer tribe, and two local female officials of the Autonomous Administration. The attacks also left 23 civilians and combatants injured in the same period, since early 2021 to date.

 

Islamic State’s abductees: ignored and unaccounted

Although nearly 22 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” declared 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 openly back and forth with one of Syria’s neighbouring country.