114th month of Coalition operations in Syria | Command of Iranian-backed militias orders to suspend attacks on US bases

Completing the 114^th consecutive month of military operations against the “Islamic State” in Syria, the International Coalition continues sending military reinforcement to SDF-held areas, carrying out raids, arrests and various security campaigns in several areas controlled by SDF. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in turn, tracked and monitored all operations and movement of the International Coalition during the past month.

 

In the 114^th month of International Coalition operations in Syria, nearly 240 trucks and vehicles affiliated to the Coalition, carrying military and logistical supplies, crossed into Syria from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in five batches on the 25^th and 29^th of February and the 12^th, 13^th and 21^st of March. The trucks headed to the Coalition’s military bases in Al-Hasakah and Deir Ezzor in north-east Syria region.

 

The International Coalition also brought in reinforcement by air, where SOHR documented the arrival of nearly 14 cargo planes and helicopters in bases in Al-Hasakah and Deir Ezzor in the past month. The cargo planes carried military and logistical supplies and soldiers.

 

On the other hand, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria continued to escalate their attacks on US bases in Syria as a part of retaliatory measures against the US forces amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

 

In the period between February 23 and March 22, SOHR documented two attacks by Iranian-backed groups, mainly the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” on US bases in Deir Ezzor, one attack targeted the US base in Al-Omar oil field and the other targeted Koniko gas field base; they are as follows:

 

• February 24: Iran-backed groups fired missiles on the largest US base in Syria in Al-Omar Oil Field eastern of Deir Ezzor, while the US forces were conducting military exercises in the base, where explosions were heard as the ground defences of US forces blocked the missiles.

 

• February 25: Explosions were heard in Deir Ezzor countryside, where Iran-backed missiles on the US base in Koniko Gas Field northern of Deir Ezzor.

 

Since then, those groups have suspended their attacks on the US bases in Syria at orders by the command of Iranian-backed militias.

 

 

Meanwhile, US forces reacted to those attacks by three rounds of airstrikes, targeting positions of Iranian-backed militias in Deir Ezzor province, killing three combatants: one Syrian and two militiamen of Arab and Asian nationalities. In addition, the US strikes left heavy material losses.

 

Here are further details on the US attacks on positions of Iranian-backed militias in the past month:

 

• March 6: Three members of pro-Iranian militias, including two Syrians, were killed in an attack by drone on a military vehicle on the vicinity of “Ain Ali” shrine in Al-Mayadeen desert in eastern Deir Ezzor countryside.

 

• March 14: A drone attacked a refrigerated truck, carrying unknown materials, belonging to Iranian-backed militias in Al-Harri village in Al-Bukamal countryside in eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, after entering Syria through Al-Bukamal crossing accompanied by several trucks, coming from Iraq.

 

• March 15: Violent explosions were heard after a drone targeted a truck of the Iranian militias that entered Syrian territory from Iraq through Al-Bokamal crossing in eastern Deir Ezzor countryside.

 

 

On the other hand, SOHR activists reported that the International Coalition conducted seven rounds of military drills, six rounds of which were in different bases Deir Ezzor and Al-Hasakah provinces, where SDF participated in some of those rounds. The 7^th round of military drills by the International Coalition was conducted with the participation of the “Free Syria Army” in Al-Tanf garrison in the 55 kilometre de-confliction zone near the border area between Syria, Jordan and Iraq.

 

 

In the past month, SOHR activists also documented the participation of the International Coalition in two joint security operations with SDF, namely raids and airdrops, arresting 11 ISIS members and commanders.

 

 

Separately, International Coalition Forces have discharged the leader of the “Syrian Free Army,” Colonel Farid Al-Qassem, and appointed Lieutenant Colonel Salem Al-Antari as the new leader of the faction for unknown reasons.

 

Lieutenant Colonel Salem Al-Antari had defected from regime army in 2012 and worked for several rebel factions in eastern Ghouta in Rif Dimashq, before he moved to Al-Rukban camp and joined the “Syrian Free Army” (former Maghawir Al-Thawra) in 2018.

 

The “Free Syrian Army” consists of nearly 500 fighters with relatively high military experience, including regime dissident officers and sub-officers who had participated in military battles against regime forces,

 

The faction’s members are subjected to intensive military drills by International Coalition Forces since the replacement of the leadership of the faction in October 2022.

 

 

March 2024: Another month passes and no investigation into alleged Coalition massacres

 

Despite SOHR repeated and “unheeded” appeals, International Coalition and SDF have not announced the results of interrogations with ISIS detainees and what happened to the thousands of abductees. The Syrian Observatory had previously called upon the international community to investigate reports regarding the killing of 200 ISIS operatives and their families, women, and children, in a massacre committed by the Coalition’s jets by bombing Al-Baghouz camp on March 21, 2019.

 

According to SOHR sources, 200 bodies were buried at dawn on that particular day, without information on whether the International Coalition was aware of the presence of children and women from ISIS families inside the camp or not.

 

However, all these appeals remain unanswered. Therefore, SOHR renews its calls and appeals to all relevant parties to disclose and announce the whole facts and hold accountable those responsible for the massacres and violations over the past five years, during which the Coalition was actively involved in the Syrian crisis.

 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, while providing adequate monitoring of Coalition operations in Syria, stresses once more that it would have been possible to avoid the heavy losses of Syrian civilian lives if the International Coalition had not ignored SOHR’s calls to spare and protect civilians from its military operations, where the presence of Islamic State militants or other jihadist groups in a civilian area does not in any way justify the blank and discriminate bombardment of the area and the loss of civilian lives.

 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also stresses that the negative impact of Turkish military intervention on civilians could have been avoided, if US Presidents had applied enough pressure on their Turkish counterparts to stop a new humanitarian crisis, displacing thousands and killing and injuring hundreds.

 

On the other hand, we at SOHR would like to remind the world that the oil and gas resources, controlled by the International Coalition, belong only to the Syrian people. Therefore, all the concerned parties are obliged under international laws and norms to preserve these resources and ensure that they will not be stolen or seized in any way; these resources do not belong to the “regime”, “Iran” or any other party; they belong only to the people of Syria, who have been suffering the brutalities of an ongoing war for over ten years. SOHR also warns of the repercussions of exploiting these sources, seizing them, or depriving the Syrians of their rights to resources.