DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – After announcing the Islamic State’s territorial defeat, Ali’s joy did not last long. He soon noticed their sudden presence as ISIS members and sleeper cells have become active and abruptly emerged in the nearby desert.
Ali al-Ahmad, a pseudonym for one of the locals in the town of al-Sukhna in the eastern countryside of Homs, said that they did not rejoice long enough after the announcement of ISIS’ defeat.
After two years of hit-and-run battles and the announcement of the US-led Global Coalition and Kremlin of defeating ISIS in 2019, however, the repeated solo ISIS attacks that occur in the Syrian Desert to this day still haunt the people of a possible return of the group.
The Syrian Desert covers nearly half of the geography of Syria, and is distributed over the governorates of Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Rif Dimashq, Suwayda, and Palmyra.
Al-Ahmad told North Press that ISIS sleeper cells are still significantly active in al-Sukhna and surrounding towns. ISIS militants “suddenly” show up out of nowhere and set up checkpoints and patrol in the town amid the inaction and inability of the Syrian government forces to pursue or eliminate them.
“I witnessed over three assassinations of government employees in the town. ISIS militants shoot them while riding motorcycles, then they flee to the desert,” al-Ahmad added.
Iranian-backed militias and the government forces control large areas of the Syrian Desert and the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, which constitutes a source of concern as it witnesses intensive operations by the ISIS sleeper cells.
He and most of the townspeople are apprehensive of ISIS’s public return in the region due to their increasing attacks in the town and the Syrian Desert. This fear prompts some of the locals to immigrate outside of Syria or to stay home and away from government jobs, which the group considers them as “apostates” punished by death.
The people residing in the Syrian Desert and the eastern and central regions of Syria are concerned about ISIS possible return due to their widespread presence in uninhabited regions and adaptability to the desert. The majority of their attacks are undeterred by government forces and Iranian-backed militias as they are unable to limit their expansion and pursue them into the depth of the desert.
The group has adopted the surprise hit-and-run tactics in their operations. They attack patrols through planting IEDs on the roads. All these moves and attacks have terrorized the locals, even government forces, and instilled fear in their hearts of ISIS ‘s re-emergence.
Azaal al-Nasser, one of the residents of the town of al-Masrab in the western countryside of Deir ez-Zor, said the majority of the people stay at home, especially at night, and only come out for emergencies. They avoid passing by the government forces’ posts or dealing with them, fearing ISIS spies planted among the locals in the town.
He told North Press that the group’s black banners are raised above houses and lanes at night, not to mention the pro-ISIS graffiti on house walls.
The Syrian Desert, especially Homs and Deir ez-Zor desert, witnessed intensive ISIS attacks even against civilians working as truffle hunters and shepherds. The al-Masrab desert witnesses semi-daily ISIS assaults.
Al-Nasser, similar to the people of the nearby areas of the Desert, fears the re-emergence of the group in the region. “In case they return, there will be countless massacres, especially following its long absence and resentment against the population.”
The group is taking advantage of political and military developments occurring in Syria to re-emerge. ISIS militants are deployed in the desert of Deir ez-Zor, Palmyra, and al-Sukhna. Meanwhile, most of their attacks are concentrated in Deir ez-Zor, Homs countryside, Hasakah, Aleppo, Hama, and Raqqa.
In previous years, the Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed militias carried out several military operations, most notably Operation White Desert, to comb and pursue ISIS sleeper cells in the Syrian Desert but were unable to eliminate their presence and expansion.
There are no accurate statistics on ISIS militants present in the Syrian Desert. However, activists and locals confirmed the presence of foreign militants among the group’s ranks as they appeared in several attacks carried out in government-held areas.
On January 2023, the ISIS-run Amaq news agency released footage of ISIS militants, with their gear and vehicles, in the Syrian Desert, pledging to take vengeance and to re-emerge.
Since the beginning of 2023, ISIS has claimed responsibility for 320 attacks in various areas in the world, including 49 in Syria and 61 in Iraq.
Hence, apprehension remains and grows among the locals, as they fear to report any ISIS activity in their region.