A senior official from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of the US Alliance warned that the Islamic state “abused the security vacuum” after the collapse of dictator Bashar Assad, warning that it remains a horrifying threat to the country .
The SDF, a Kurdish-led militia coalition in northern Syria, has confirmed dozens of operations against Islamic state terrorists in the past two months, coordinated with both President Donald Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden's administration. I did.
The Islamic State, a terrorist group for the massacre, once controlled a significant proportion of Syrian territory during the Assad regime. The SDF is working in partnership with the United States, destroying the ISIS caliphate in 2017. This is an incident that preceded the extension of the domestic civil war between Assad and the country's various anti-Assad rebels.
That lull ended dramatically in November when al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Taharil al-Sham (HTS) seized control of Aleppo, the country's second largest city. A surprise attack from HTS prompted a massive escape from Assad's army and its ultimate collapse, allowing HTS to take over Damascus on December 7th.
According to one spokesman for the militia under the SDF banner, while Assad's troops abandoned their posts, in areas where the HTS had not yet seized control, the Islamic state began to establish its existence. in Interview On Monday, along with Syria's North Press Agency (NPA), spokesman Mahmoud Habib explained that SDF must change and expand its intelligence efforts to protect against ISIS threats.
“He said ISIS misused the security vacuum left behind by the accidental withdrawal of Syrian regime forces that had abandoned them without securing weapons or military equipment,” the NPA reported. “This allowed ISIS fighters to grab weapons and ammunition.”
ISIS terrorists followed the rise of the HTS and moved the operation into “remote and rugged desert regions” near the Iraqi border, he explained. Rival extremists.
According to Habib, SDF has implemented “75 projects to the Islamic State (ISIS) in collaboration with the US-led Global Union since December 2024.” The group is also involved in “stabilizing the region to coordinate with regime forces from Damascus and Aleppo,” but the report states that this has been prior to collapse or coordination with the Assad regime with the HTS. I did not clarify whether this means.
HTS operates as Syrian de facto government under its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. It has been reported On Sunday, its intelligence operatives successfully captured the impending attack of an ISIS terrorist programme, via the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). Sana identified the terrorists as “Abu al-Haris al-Iraki” and described him as “responsible for overseeing the files of new arrivals” to Syria and Iraq-based jihadist networks from around the world. .
“Al-Iraki was behind several operations plans, most notably the assassination of his leader, Maysal Al-Jubli.
The SDF confirmed it was engaged in operations with the US, and in December, the top leader Mazurum said that Kurdish-led fighters had been “stopped” with the US due to an increase in attacks from Turkey. We are confirming that we have followed an astonishing statement from General Abdi. – Jihadist of the Syrian Army (SNA). The SNA essentially acted as a Turkish proxy force, increasing attacks on the SDF shortly after Aleppo fell to HTS. Turkey has made a positive relationship with NATO Ally America, considering its largest group of SDFs, the Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG/YPJ), from the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Nevertheless, they see their destruction as a priority.
“ISIS is now becoming stronger in the Syrian desert,” SDF commander Abdi told the British Sky Communications Agency in December. “Previously, they were hiding remotely, but now they have greater freedom of movement because the other groups are fine and they are not in conflict with them.”
Abdi warned that the SDF managed prison, which houses tens of thousands of Islamic state jihadists captured during the 2017 Raqqa collapse, is also a “big threat” thanks to Turkish proxy attacks .
Although SNA traditionally did not enjoy a good relationship with HTS, HTS leaders have expressed a strong will to involve Turkey in their efforts to rebuild Syria after the war. Sharaa, the terrorist who currently runs the country, visited Ankara in early February and formed close ties with the Muslim strongman Receptacle Erdogan government, and was involved in the turkeys with the “all political and economics.” We called for joint action at the “security level.”
However, Sharaa also sought to maintain diplomatic relations with the large minorities in Syria. Most of it is in the SDF territory in the north. Shara visited the Kurdish city of Afrin on Saturday to have a conversation with both his leaders and locals about Damascus' concentration. According to Kurdish outlets, issues of main concerns for residents rudawwhich was the fact that various militias were forcing locals to pay “taxes” to fund their arms.
“Some factions continue to impose taxes and collection on people, arrest and humiliate those who cannot pay. We continue to suffer from the situation of factions at this moment.” “Their village Hundreds of families live with relatives, because the faction allows them to pay a large sum of money in dollars (and sometimes thousands) and then return home. Because of this, it discourages some people from coming back.”
Although Rudo did not name the militia, Afrin has been a target of a Turkish-supported ethnic cleansing campaign for years, and the militia involved may be linked to Ankara. Rudaw reported that the group allied with Türkiye was not included in consultations between Sharaa and local leaders.
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