552 people in Syria fall victim to ISIS attacks in first half of 2023

Introduction and Methodology:

Since 2013, after Islamic State (ISIS) became active in Syria, it has left behind thousands of victims because of its extremist practices and systematic attacks. ISIS committed mass slaughters and violations against civilians, taking hundreds captive, of which a great number are still missing. It carried out executions, recruited children, assaulted women, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. Even though five years have passed since ISIS’ territorial defeat in its last stronghold Baghuz in Deir ez-Zor in east Syria on March 2019 by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) supported by the US-led Global Coalition to defeat ISIS, however its activities and violations against civilians in Syria continue.

During the first half of 2023, ISIS used its widespread sleeper cells in Syria to launch attacks, most notably against truffle hunters, in addition to planting IEDs and explosives on roads and many direct targeting with guns.

This semi-annual report issued by the Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press, is based on its databases that record and document violations committed by ISIS against civilians and military personnel. The report also uses information received directly from field correspondents, as well as news articles and reports released by the agency, testimonies from victims and their relatives, and security and human rights sources.

The report shows the toll of victims to ISIS and the intensity of its activities in the first six months of 2023 in Syria. It includes the number of direct attacks, human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings, arbitrary kidnapping, civilian casualties of remnants of war, mines, explosives, and IEDs purposefully planted by the group, and the security campaigns carried out by controlling powers against ISIS.

Victims of ISIS violations

ISIS left behind 552 casualties in the first half of 2023, of which 363 were killed and 189 others were wounded.

The number of victims of direct ISIS attacks reached 262 dead and 112 injured. The toll included 64 dead and 15 wounded from Syrian government forces, 37 dead and 75 wounded from the SDF, 20 dead and two wounded from Iranian-backed factions and four wounded from US troops, and 141 dead, including a woman, and 16 wounded from civilians.

As for the victims of the remnants of war that the group planted and continues to do so in various areas in Syria, particularly the Syrian Desert and countryside, their number reached 178 people, of which 101 were killed and 77 were wounded.

50 men, eight women, and 15 children were killed and 30 men and 20 children were wounded. Among military personnel, 28 were killed and 27 were wounded, including 11 dead and 10 injured from Iranian-backed militias, six dead and seven wounded from the SDF, and 10 dead and 11 wounded from the government forces.

ISIS also kidnapped 165 people, including women and children, of which 20 were confirmed dead by our department. As for the others, their fate is still unknown.

The number of civilian victims reached 280 individuals, of which 214 were killed, including nine women and 15 children, and 66 were wounded, including 20 children.

Truffle hunters

The most prominent victims of ISIS were truffle hunters. Many people in the Syrian Desert resorted to truffle hunting to make extra money amid the difficult economic circumstances. However, several truffle hunter groups were attacked by ISIS and other militants.

The number of casualties reached 191 individuals, of which 155 were killed, including eight women and 137 men, and 13 military personnel, and 36 were wounded, including 34 men and two military personnel.

In Homs, 70 individuals were killed, including 60 men, three women, and seven members of the government forces, and 12 men were injured.

In Deir ez-Zor, 29 individuals were killed, including four members of government forces, two members of Iranian-backed militias, 19 men, and four women, and five were wounded, including three men and two members of Iranian-backed militias.

In Hama, 53 men and one woman were killed and 19 men were injured. In Aleppo, three people were killed.

ISIS also kidnapped dozens of men and women, where in Aleppo they kidnapped 25 individuals, three in Hama, and two in Homs. Their fate is still unknown.

ISIS attacks

Our department recorded 133 ISIS attacks in Syria. The group claimed responsibility for only 63 attacks. The victims of ISIS attacks were 75 percent of the total count of casualties.

The group carried out 57 attacks against the SDF, 36 against civilians, 34 against the government forces, and six against Iranian-backed militias.

In Deir ez-Zor, 64 attacks occurred, 20 in Raqqa, 20 in Homs, 12 in Hama, 12 in Hasakah, two in Aleppo, one in Daraa, one in Damascus, and one in Qamishli.

Security operations

The SDF, the Global Coalition, and the government forces carried out 95 security operations against ISIS militants. They arrested 552 individuals accused of joining ISIS, killed 45 and wounded two others.

The SDF carried out 84 operations, of which 18 were led by the Global Coalition, including 16 airdrops. During these operations, they arrested 505 ISIS suspects, including ISIS leaders, and killed 13 and wounded two others.

The government forces conducted seven operations, detained three ISIS suspects, and killed six others.

Turkey also claimed to have targeted an ISIS leader in areas held by the Turkish-backed opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), in Aleppo.

The perpetrators of five operations targeting ISIS suspects, in which seven individuals were killed, were unknown.

Thirty-nine operations occurred in Deir ez-Zor, 19 in Raqqa, 17 in Hasakah, eight in Daraa, five in Aleppo, one in Manbij, one in Qamishli, one in Idlib, and four were conducted by the Global Coalition in northeast Syria without specifying precise positions.

Repatriation of ISIS families:

As recorded by the Monitoring and Documentation Department, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) handed over 373 individuals, including 298 children and 81 women from ISIS families, to 13 states. The AANES handed over 108 people to Tajikistan, 105 to Russia, 59 to Kyrgyzstan, 47 to France, 15 to Spain, 14 to Canada, five to Sudan, five to Kazakhstan, five to Norway, three to Barbados, three to Slovakia, three to Denmark, one to New Zealand.

As for the Iraqis in Hawl camp, 2,049 people were deported, including 50 former members of ISIS.

 The international community and the US continued to call on states to repatriate their nationals from camps and detention centers in Syria. The number of repatriated families increased compared to last year. In the first half of 2023 alone, they constituted 72 percent of the total of repatriated people from last year.

In the same context, based on the importance of achieving justice, and in order to uncover the facts, including the fate of the missing, the AANES launched the “Solution Initiative” to prosecute ISIS militants detained in areas under its control in accordance with international and domestic “terrorism” laws. The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), in a statement, called on the international community to support the initiative of the AANES and its decision to prosecute ISIS militants, believing that the trial “ensures” the disclosure of the facts, including the fate of the missing.