U.S. troops are rushing to crush a resurgence of the Islamic State in Syria, multiple U.S. and allied officials told The Wall Street Journal.
The United States nearly defeated the Islamic State in Syria with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in 2019 and conducted a coordinated global military operation to remove the terrorist group from the region. But now the group has expanded its reach and launched high-level attacks on allied forces, and U.S. and SDF forces are working quickly to dismantle it before it becomes too dangerous a threat, officials say. said WSJ. (Related: Defense Secretary orders warships bound for the Middle East to speed up)
“This year has been the worst since we defeated the Islamic State,” SDF co-commander Gen. Rohirat Afrin told the Journal at a U.S. military base in Syria. “No matter how many we defeat them, they will rise again.”
According to the WSJ, the Islamic State is recruiting new fighters who will eventually become suicide bombers and is working to free thousands of imprisoned fighters. The terrorist group has already claimed more than 153 attacks in Syria and Iraq in the first half of 2024 alone.
As of July 2023, the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for 181 attacks in Syria that year. According to To the Council on Foreign Relations.
A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter loads a machine gun belt into a turret alongside a technical vehicle as other fighters deploy to impose a curfew in the town of Al Busayra, in Deir Ezzor province, northeastern Syria, on September 4, 2023, during a guided media tour organized by the SDF. (Photo by Deiril Souleyman/AFP via Getty Images)
“What we are seeing is the movement of personnel, weapons and equipment,” a U.S. special forces officer in Syria told the Journal.
According to the WSJ, in the first seven months of 2024, the SDF has captured about 233 suspected Islamic State terrorists. The SDF works with the US to regularly conduct raids in areas believed to be Islamic State strongholds.
The U.S. military has conducted four airstrikes in 2023 and supported 50 attacks against the Islamic State since the beginning of last year, according to the WSJ. The U.S. also provides intelligence and surveillance data to the SDF to support raids and attacks.
The US has generally refrained from direct involvement in fighting, but its forces have sometimes killed or captured Islamic State leaders, according to the WSJ. There are currently more than 3,000 US civilian and military forces deployed between Syria and Iraq.
A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters stand guard along a road as other fighters deploy to impose a curfew in the town of Al-Busaira in Deir Ezzor province, northeastern Syria, on September 4, 2023, during a guided media tour organized by the SDF. (Photo: Deiril Souleyman/AFP via Getty Images)
According to The Wall Street Journal, Iraqi leaders are calling on the United States to withdraw all of its resources from Iraq, and while diplomatic talks between the United States and Iraq last month failed to produce a withdrawal agreement, even the possibility of a withdrawal has concerned U.S. officials.
“You will see chaos like you’ve never seen before,” Brigadier General Ali al-Hassan, a U.S. military spokesman in northern Syria, told the Journal. “If they withdraw, the sleeper forces will immediately start operating.”
U.S. forces have recently been engaged in clashes with various terrorist groups across the Middle East, some of whom view each other as enemies, but all of whom are hostile to the West. Tensions have escalated dramatically since October 7, when Hamas invaded Israel, killing about 1,200 people and sparking a regional war that has engulfed Western nations and terrorist-affiliated forces.
Since October 7, there have been more than 170 attacks on U.S. and allied forces in Syria, Iraq and Jordan. According to To The Intercept.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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