ISIS Attempts to Revive Operations in Syria

Asharq Al-Awsat

31-05-2025

ISIS has claimed responsibility for its first attack on Syrian government forces since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad's regime last December. The announcement, made on Thursday, suggests the militant group is seeking to exploit Syria's fragile transitional period to rebuild its presence and revive its operations.
According to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity, ISIS issued a statement claiming it had detonated an explosive device targeting a vehicle belonging to what it described as the 'apostate Syrian regime' in the southern province of Suwaida. The group referred to the new government as 'apostate' despite its origins in Islamist factions that played a role in Assad's ouster, underscoring ISIS' continued rejection of any authority outside its own ideology.
SITE reported that this marks the group's first confirmed attack against Syria's new government forces. Local sources reported that the blast, which occurred Wednesday, killed one person and injured three others from a unit of the Syrian army.
Separately, local news outlet Suwayda 24 reported an explosion Thursday morning on the Arika-Najran road in western Suwaida. Citing a source in the Engineering Unit of the 'Men of Dignity' movement - active in the predominantly Druze region - the report said an IED damaged an ambulance but caused no casualties.
The device, weighing several kilograms and recently planted, appeared intended to strike any passing vehicle. The source described the incident as a 'terrorist act,' though it appears distinct from the attack claimed by ISIS.
The group's renewed activity coincides with an intensifying crackdown by Syrian government forces on ISIS sleeper cells. In recent weeks, Syria's Interior Ministry released images of alleged group members captured during a raid in eastern Aleppo. Officials said the cell was involved in attacks on security personnel, including the killing of an officer. Authorities also confiscated weapons, explosives, and suicide vests.
Earlier this month, Damascus' regional internal security chief, Hossam Al-Tahan, announced the arrest of several ISIS suspects in western Ghouta. The detainees were reportedly operating in areas such as Kiswa, Deir Khabiyeh, and Zakiyah. Security forces seized a cache of light and heavy weapons, including rocket launchers and IEDs.
The regime also claims to have dismantled a separate ISIS cell earlier this year that was allegedly plotting an attack on a Shiite religious site near the capital.
ISIS has not limited its threats to government forces. The group has continued attempts to destabilize the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the country's east. Though the group was territorially defeated in 2019 in the town of Baghouz, its fighters have reverted to guerrilla tactics, maintaining cells across central and eastern Syria.