The terrorist group ISIS has claimed responsibility for two attacks targeting government forces in northern and eastern Syria, threatening what it described as a “new phase of operations.”
In a statement published on Saturday, the group said it had opened fire on a member of the “Syrian army” in the city of Al-Mayadeen in Deir ez-Zor province, and had also attacked two other personnel in the city of Raqqa.
Escalation in ISIS rhetoric
Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry in Syria’s transitional government announced the killing of a soldier and a civilian by “unknown attackers,” while a military source told Reuters that the soldier belonged to the “42nd Division.”
This came two days after the group claimed responsibility for another attack in Deir ez-Zor that it said killed one member of the Internal Security Forces and wounded another.
The attacks coincided with an escalation in the group’s rhetoric against Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. In an audio recording attributed to the group’s spokesman, Abu Hudhayfah al-Ansari, the new Syrian regime was described as “infidel and apostate,” and listeners were urged to fight it.
Since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad, the group has claimed six attacks against government targets, in what is seen as a sign that it is trying to reactivate its cells, which had diminished after its battlefield defeat in 2019 at the hands of the “international coalition,” with ground support from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Field developments
These developments come at a time when areas of northeastern Syria are witnessing military and political changes. In 2025, Syria under al-Sharaa joined the Washington-led “international coalition” to combat the terrorist group, during a visit to the United States in which he met US President Donald Trump.
Last January, government forces advanced into areas that had been under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces, including areas containing prisons and detention centers holding the group’s members and their families, raising questions about the fate of thousands of detainees.
Washington later announced the transfer of more than 5,700 detainees from the group’s ranks from Syria to Iraq, in a move it said was aimed at securing the detainee issue.
US media reports also referred to a plan to withdraw about 1,000 American troops from Syria over the next two months. Those reports said the international coalition would withdraw from the Al-Tanf and Al-Shaddadi bases, which it had used in its operations against the group.
Observers said at the time that the US withdrawal would create a security vacuum that could give the group room to reorganize its ranks, taking advantage of the vast desert expanses and the complexities of the political and military landscape.
Repercussions of Washington’s withdrawal from Syria
Meanwhile, a US research center warned the administration of President Donald Trump about the risks and consequences of rushing to withdraw American forces from Syria.
The Atlantic Council said that if Washington withdraws without a clear strategy and prematurely, Syria will face the same fate as Libya and turn into a battlefield for proxy forces and extremist groups.
According to the center’s senior researcher, Kurt Davis, the recent withdrawal of American forces from Al-Tanf base indicates Trump’s desire for a full withdrawal from Syria, but he warned that “wars do not necessarily end just because we are tired of them.”
He also warned that if the various forces are not organized into a unified national army before the American withdrawal, Syria will become like Libya, and the “militias” will turn into local authorities that collect taxes and levies from the population.
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