The Islamic State (IS) intensified attacks against the Syrian government since February 21, carrying out at least six operations across Raqqa and Deir Ezzour provinces that have killed at least eight Syrian government security personnel. These attacks started immediately after the jihadist group released a statement recorded by its spokesman, Abu Hudhayfah al Ansari, that announced a "new phase of operations" in Syria.
On February 21, IS claimed responsibility for an attack on a security checkpoint at Al Wasita market near the town of Saluq in northern Raqqa province that killed two members of the Syrian army's 42nd Division. On the same day, the jihadist group attacked a security checkpoint in Al Taqba. Additionally, the terrorist organization claimed that it targeted a member of the Syrian security forces in the city of Mayadin in Deir Ezzour province.
On February 23, an Islamic State cell attacked a Syrian security forces checkpoint in the Al Sabahiyah area of Raqqa city, killing four security personnel and wounding two others. One member of the Islamic State cell was also killed during the operation.
According to local sources, three of the four deceased Syrian government security members have been identified: Mohammad Amin from Tabqa, Mohammad Aboud, and Abdul Razzaq Fares. The same security checkpoint was targeted by an Islamic State cell the day before, resulting in the death of the attacker and Ahmad al Sayyed, a Syrian security forces member from Idlib. The perpetrator's name was not disclosed, though sources reported that he was a Syrian from Aleppo province.
In addition to Ansari announcing a "new phase of operations" in his statement that proceeded the jihadist group's attacks, the Islamic State spokesman declared that Syria has "moved from Iranian occupation to Turkish American occupation." He also described Syrian President Ahmad al Sharaa as a "guardian" of the international coalition and vowed that Sharaa's fate would be no different from that of former Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad, who Sharaa ousted in December 2024.
"The new Syrian regime, with its secular government and nationalist army, are infidel apostates. Nothing is more obligatory after faith than fighting them to liberate Al Sham [Syria] from their claws. … The soldiers of Al Sham must diligently strive to fight them," Ansari stated.
The uptick in Islamic State attacks comes at a delicate moment for Syria's security situation. As the Syrian government consolidated control over Al Hol camp in Hasakah province, home to thousands of Islamic State-linked women and children, large numbers of detainees reportedly escaped in an organized operation since the end of January. Local sources claimed that foreign fighters affiliated with the Syrian government smuggled a number of these families under the eyes of the Syrian forces.
Al Hol had already served as fertile ground for jihadist indoctrination among detainees. Within the camp, the wives of fighters established a de facto IS-style administrative structure in a "Muhajirat" (foreigners') sector. Eyewitnesses reported that they created their own morality police, enforcing strict rules and surveillance over other residents, effectively replicating elements of Islamic State governance inside the camp.
A recent UN report assessed that the Islamic State has "maintained an estimated 3,000 fighters across the broader Syrian-Iraqi region, the majority in the Syrian Arab Republic." It noted that the jihadist group's cells are now dispersed across the country rather than concentrated in central Syria, and that it has "concealed the extent of its operations by leaving many attacks unclaimed." The report further alleged that the Islamic State continues to recruit fighters from dissolved and other hardline factions.
