Airstrikes carried out this week by the US military against several Islamic State targets in Syria highlight concerns about the terrorist group’s growing presence in the war-torn country, experts say.
US Central Command, or CENTCOM, said Wednesday that its forces carried out strikes on Monday targeting several camps belonging to IS, or ISIS, in the Syrian desert. Nearly 35 IS members, including senior leaders, were killed in the airstrikes, the US military said.
Despite its territorial defeat in 2019, ISIS carries out attacks via sleeper cells in Iraq and Syria. In recent months, militants affiliated with the group have become increasingly active in areas controlled by forces loyal to the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad and their Iranian and Russian allies.
The Syrian desert, also known as Badia, where US forces struck ISIS positions this week, has seen a significant upsurge in violence by ISIS militants in recent months.
ISIS has maintained training camps in the Syrian desert for many years, according to Gregory Waters, a research analyst at the Counter Extremism Project who closely tracks ISIS activities in central Syria.
“These are the places where it trains the next generation of fighters – often children it recruits from northeast Syria – and where adult fighters can return between operations,” Waters told VOA. “Although the central Syrian desert is under the control of the Russian and Syrian regimes, ISIS does not respect these arbitrary lines.”
He added that ISIS cells in the central desert support cells operating in northeastern Syria, which is largely under the control of the US-backed and led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). by the Kurds.
The United States has about 900 troops in northeast Syria, as part of a global coalition against ISIS.
“Often, fighters cross from one region to another either to carry out attacks or to escape counter-ISIS operations,” Waters said.
Colin Clarke, research director at the Soufan Group, said the US strikes demonstrate that the terror group remains a significant threat in Syria.
“Moreover, the Assad regime has neither the will nor the ability to counter ISIS, which is why the United States has remained vigilant in its efforts to keep the group on the defensive,” he said. -he declared to VOA.
“Any time you have a terrorist group with the heritage of the Islamic State, with a proven track record of recruiting, planning and carrying out attacks, including external operations in the West, it is not “It’s never a good idea to be complacent,” he added. Clarke said. “These strikes are necessary to prevent ISIS from regrouping, whether in Syria or in the hinterland of Afghanistan.”
Abdul Wahab Assi, a researcher at the Istanbul-based Jusoor Studies Center, said the U.S. strikes in the Syrian desert also carried a political message.
“It sent a message to Russia, which is apparently operating against ISIS in this particular area, that it is not doing enough” to counter ISIS activities in Syria, he told the Syria TV news channel, affiliated with the Syrian opposition.
Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced the assassination of Iraq’s IS leader and eight other senior IS commanders in a joint operation by US and Iraqi forces.
CENTCOM said in its Wednesday statement that alongside its allies and partners in the region, it “will continue to aggressively degrade ISIS’s operational capabilities to ensure its lasting defeat.”
This story originated in VOA’s Kurdish service.
