ISIS growing stronger and more organised in Middle East

[Anthea]

Dangerous Preparations by ISIS

Islamic State (ISIS) is making “dangerous preparations” in Raqqa city following a recent deadly attack against the SDF by the terrorist group

Abdi said that ISIS attacked his forces in Raqqa city early Monday, killing six fighters and injuring many others. 

“These moves by the terrorists coincide with the ongoing Turkish threats to target the security and stability of the region,” added the commander, referring to Ankara’s latest aerial offensive against the SDF in Rojava. Turkey has also threatened to carry out a ground campaign. 

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in Raqqa on Monday, saying six SDF fighters were killed and 10 others were injured. 

“Information received from Raqqa indicates dangerous preparations by ISIS cells. We must not tolerate it,” warned Abdi. 

SDF temporarily paused anti-ISIS operations late November after Turkey launched its latest operation. It has resumed military activities against the group, including joint patrols with the global coalition against ISIS. 

ISIS swept through vast swathes of Syrian land in 2014 but was declared territorially defeated in 2019 after the SDF overran its last bastion in Baghouz.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/26122022

The fools released a great many ISIS wives from the camps and allowed them to return to Raqqa, what did they expect to happen

[Anthea]

313 operations against ISIS
Wladimir van Wilgenburg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Throughout 2022, US Central Command (CENTCOM) and partner forces conducted hundreds of operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the US CENTCOM said in a press release on Thursday

“During the calendar year 2022, CENTCOM conducted 313 total operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria,” US CENTCOM said.

In Syria, the US carried out 108 partnered operations against ISIS and 14 unilateral operations. During these operations 215 ISIS operatives were detained and 466 ISIS operatives killed.

Moreover, in Iraq, the US carried out 191 partnered operations, in which 159 ISIS operatives were detained. Furthermore, at least 220 ISIS operatives killed. 

“These operations degraded ISIS and removed a cadre of senior leaders from the battlefield, to include the emir of ISIS and dozens of regional leaders as well as hundreds of fighters,” the US CENTCOM said. 

The US CENTCOM also said that no US forces were injured or killed in these operations.

“Our local partners—the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Iraqi Security Forces—have and continue to play a critical role ensuring the enduring defeat of ISIS.”

"The emerging, reliable and steady ability of our Iraqi and Syrian partner forces to conduct unilateral operations to capture and kill ISIS leaders allows us to maintain steady pressure on the ISIS network," said Major General Matt McFarlane, commander of Combined Joint Task Force — Operation Inherent Resolve, in the statement.

US Central Command Commander General Erik Kurilla also underlined in the public statement that the ISIS ideology remains a threat. “We must continue to pressure ISIS through our partnered operations." 

Moreover, he said there is a literal 'ISIS army' in detention in Iraq and Syria. “There are, today, more than 10,000 ISIS leaders and fighters in detention facilities throughout Syria and more than 20,000 ISIS leaders and fighters in detention facilities in Iraq."

“The January 2022 ISIS prison breakout in Al-Hasakah, Syria is a reminder of the risk imposed by these prisons,” he said. “The ensuing fight to contain the breakout resulted in more than 420 ISIS killed and more than 120 partnered forced killed.”

He also warned that there is a “potential next generation of ISIS. “These are the more than 25,000 children in the al-Hol camp who are in danger,” he said.

The US military said the “mission to defeat ISIS will continue in 2023 as CENTCOM and its Coalition partners remain committed to the enduring defeat of the terror group in order to maintain and enhance global security, stability, and human rights.”

The SDF in a recent report also said that they carried out 113 anti-ISIS operations in 2022.

They arrested 267 ISIS suspects during these operations. A total of 387 ‘terrorists’ were killed (375 during the Sinaa prison escape attempt in January, and 12 others at separate operations).

ISIS also carried out 176 terrorist acts in northern Syria, including suicide attacks, IEDs, and extortion of civilians, per the findings of the report.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/30 ... 2:-CENTCOM

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Click Photo to Enlarge:

Germany's top official in Erbil

Minister of state at the German foreign ministry on Wednesday arrived in Erbil, meeting with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani. They discussed a range of topics, including the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) and Germany’s recent recognition of the ISIS crimes against Yazidis as “genocide,” according to Barzani's office

Tobias Lindner, Minister of State at Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday, meeting with Iraqi top officials. Later in the day, he arrived in Erbil.

“I am coming from Baghdad where I had talks as well with the federal government of Iraq as well as the military missions and the United Nations. I can assure you that bilateral relations with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq are very important,” Lindner told reporters at Erbil International Airport.

Baghdad and Erbil have made “big progress in increasing the security of the region as well as economic prosperity. In the past, we supported the stabilisation of Iraq and now we are looking forward to deepening relations,” he added.

The German minister later visited President Barzani.

Both “agreed that ISIS is still a real threat and it poses a serious threat to the security of Iraq and the region. Therefore, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region still need the continuation of the global coalition against ISIS’ mission,” read a readout from Barzani’s office.

ISIS attacked the disputed town of Shingal in the summer of 2014, killing and kidnapping thousands of Yazidis, with the fate of a large number of them remaining unclear.

German parliament on Thursday recognized the ISIS crimes against Yazidis as “genocide.”

Germany has been an essential member of the global coalition against ISIS.

President Barzani thanked Germany for the recognition, added the readout.

The largest Yazidi community in the world is found in Germany where over 200,000 members of the ethnoreligious group live, Germany’s integration minister told Rudaw last week.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/25012023

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SDF launch anti-ISIS operation

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched Wednesday a large-scale operation targeting Islamic State (ISIS) cells in the terror group’s former stronghold of Raqqa in retaliation to a deadly ISIS attack on the Kurdish force late last year

The SDF announced “the launching of a large-scale security operation named ‘Operation Retaliation for Raqqa Martyrs’ and the forming of a joint operations room backed by International Coalition airpower, aimed at targeting the terrorist cell and their dangerous operatives,” the US-backed force said in a statement.

A deadly ISIS attack targeted SDF positions in the terror group’s former stronghold of Raqqa, now controlled by the SDF, on December 26, killing at least six fighters of the Kurdish force and injuring many others.

“Immediate results” were achieved after the latest operation commenced, according to the SDF, who added that they quickly began raiding positions in Raqqa and its countryside after the operation was launched on midnight.

ISIS swept through vast swathes of Syrian land in 2014 but it was declared devoid of territorial control after the SDF overran its last bastion in Baghouz in 2019.

The Kurdish-led force temporarily halted anti-ISIS operations late November after Turkey launched a fresh aerial campaign. It has resumed military activities against the terror group, including joint patrols with the global coalition.

“There is no doubt that the elimination of the so-called ISIS capital and its last stronghold by the Syrian Democratic Forces constituted a better opportunity to ensure safety in the Middle East and the world,” the SDF’s statement ended.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/25012023

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SDF arrests ISIS governor in Raqqa
Wladimir van Wilgenburg

RBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Syrian Democratic Forces on Thursday announced that they arrested the ISIS governor in the former ISIS capital of Raqqa during the ‘Operation Retaliation for Raqqa Martyrs” campaign

“During the first hours of Operation Retaliation for Raqqa Martyrs, the joint forces supported by the Coalition’s airpower, arrested 68 ISIS terrorists, including the Wali (governor) of the so-called Wilayah (province) al-Raqqa, who was in charge of leading the ISIS cells,” the SDF said.

The SDF added that he was also responsible for “the so-called Khalid bin Al-Walid Battalion, which was responsible for the terrorist attack on the Internal Security Forces center in the al-Dariyah neighborhood on December 26.”

“According to initial interrogations, the terrorist Atallah al-Maythan confessed to his involvement in planning and leading terrorist acts, extorting the populace to finance ISIS, and facilitating communication mechanisms between terrorist cells,” the SDF said.

Moreover, this morning in Raqqa’s countryside, SDF forces arrested “eight terrorists, two of whom tried to flee to areas outside the SDF control, on the other side of the Euphrates River, after a shoot out with joint forces. No injuries were recorded.”

The SDF liberated Raqqa from ISIS in Oct. 2017, with the support of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition.

Nevertheless, ISIS cells remain active in the region and have attacked SDF and Asayish forces.

The SDF have recently stepped up operations in the Hasakah province (al Jazeera region), Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa against ISIS cells.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/30 ... r-in-Raqqa

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Weapons from Turkish groups
Wladimir van Wilgenburg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – In a report on Monday, the UK-based investigative organization, Conflict Armament Research (CAR), said that weapons recovered from ISIS fighters after three high-profile prison breaks show that the weapons come from the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (NSA)

“In each recovery, CAR has observed weapons bearing a distinctive secondary marking. This mark, applied across a disparate set of material, identifies these weapons as having shared a common custodian, which CAR believes to be the Syrian National Army (SNA),” the report said.

“CAR’s analysis strongly suggests that this marking indicates that these nine weapons were all at one point in the custody of Turkish-backed SNA forces,” the report added.

The report also mentions that researchers in Syria have reported on existing links between some SNA factions and ISIS weapon smugglers.

Other diversion mechanisms, such as the capture or theft from SNA stockpiles, may also be possible, the CAR report said.

“This report indicates that arms smuggling from Turkish-backed Syrian opposition areas benefits ISIS,” Nicholas Heras, Deputy Director of the Human Security Unit at New Lines Institute in Washington DC, told Kurdistan 24.

“It also indicates that there is an ongoing challenge with ISIS operatives replenishing their arms, and finding a haven in Turkish-backed areas of northern Syria.”

Aron Lund, a fellow at Century International, told Kurdistan 24 that the report shows that these weapons were likely owned at some point by factions associated with the Syrian National Army.

However, he added that these weapons could have also ended up with Islamic State fighters in other ways.

“Syria is rife with smuggling, including by armed actors and their associates. It even happens across frontlines, between groups that are hostile to each other. So one plausible theory is that these arms were simply sold to smugglers, and then passed through unknown hands to the Islamic State.”

“Still, the fact that these weapons all popped up in connection with prison breaks, and that similar markings haven't been found on any other weapons captured from Islamic State fighters, is peculiar and bears looking into,” he also said.

Nevertheless, he added that an important caveat is that the report says the researchers got these guns from local security forces. “The Kurdish-led forces that control the area are hostile to the Syrian National Army and Turkey. How can we be sure that the guns weren't planted there to tarnish their enemies?”

CAR said it will further “report on its findings into links between these recoveries and the procurement capabilities of IS since its loss of territorial control.”

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/30 ... roups:-CAR

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Syrians fear IS resurgence

From his rooftop in the Syrian city of Raqa, Youssef Nasser watches nervously as hundreds of heavily armed Kurdish-led fighters sweep the streets of what was once the de facto capital of the Islamic State group

The fighters are on guard against another guerrilla-style ambush after six of their comrades were killed in an IS attack in December on a local security complex that aimed to free hundreds of fellow jihadists from a prison there.

As the fighters go house to house, their blaring loudspeakers warning Raqa's people to stay put, 67-year-old Nasser said he hopes for "stability and security" in his home city which is still recovering from the horrors of IS rule.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, with support from the United States, in 2017 routed IS from Raqa, which the group had used to spread their reign of terror, perpetrating mass executions, including decapitations, and other crimes.

For traumatised residents of the former IS heartland in Syria, the recent attacks and the search for militants has heightened fears of a jihadist resurgence.

"If IS returns, it will be a disaster," Nasser, dressed in a traditional robe and headdress, told AFP. "It's normal to be afraid for your family, your children, your friends."

'Worried' constantly

The Kurdish-led fighters patrolled the streets of Raqa on foot, in trucks and armoured vehicles, in the operation that began last week, under the gaze of worried parents and fearful children.

Before its 2019 military defeat, IS's once sprawling, self-proclaimed "caliphate" incorporated swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory, but the group has not held fixed positions since then.

Instead, they have launched sporadic attacks against Syrian government and Kurdish-led forces in the north and east, and strikes against Iraqi troops and their allies across the border.

Authorities in Raqa declared a lockdown and a state of emergency after the security complex assault, and set up checkpoints at the entrances to the city.

As Syria's war approaches its 12-year mark, residents said they were fearful of a return by IS.

"I'm worried every time my children leave the house," Faiza Hassan, 45, told AFP after police searched her house. "The situation at the moment is very difficult."

Sixty-year-old Umm Mohammed, bearing the traditional facial tattoos of the region, said the mere sight of armed men scared her, as she held a cigarette in her trembling hand.

"Look how my hands are shaking," she said. "I'm scared," she repeated several times, as children gathered around her.

'Plan to create chaos'

Brigadier General Ali Hassan of the Kurdish police said about 150 suspected jihadists, some of them high-level officials, had so far been arrested in the sweep.

He said IS had "switched up its strategy, moving away from individual attacks to launch collective assaults", targeting detention centres holding its members.

The recent Raqa attack was the most significant jihadist assault since IS fighters in January 2022 attacked the Ghwayran prison in the Kurdish-controlled city of Hasakeh, in what was their biggest offensive in years.

Hundreds were killed in the week-long assault that sought to free jailed jihadists.

Hassan said the group was trying to "rebuild itself with these operations".

"It seems there is a big plan to take over prisons and create chaos," he said, adding that the sweep aimed to prevent such a scenario.

But some residents fear the efforts are not enough to stop IS.

"No matter how many security campaigns they launch, they won't be able to confiscate all their weapons," said 30-year-old Ahmed Hamad.

He said the region, which was barely getting back on its feet after years of war, has very limited financial means to fight back against the militants.

The local prison, overcrowded with jihadists, was a big source of concern for Hamad, who lives close by.

"We are afraid of everything because we have nothing," he said.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/30 ... sweep-Raqa

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SDF completes anti-ISIS operation

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Thursday announced the end of its latest military operation against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Raqqa city, adding that 127 suspects were arrested in the one-week-long campaign

The US-allied force launched a large-scale operation against ISIS in the terror group’s former stronghold of Raqqa in retaliation to a deadly ISIS attack on the SDF late last year. The campaign was code-named “Operation Retaliation for Raqqa Martyrs” and the global coalition against ISIS provided aerial support.

“During the sweep and raid operations, the forces arrested 127 wanted terrorists and suspects, including Atallah Al-Methan, the Wali (governor) of the so-called Wilayah al-Raqqa,” said the Kurdish force in a statement.

“Many weapons, ammunition, and booklets on ISIS extremist ideology were also seized, in addition to uncovering old tunnels used by ISIS terrorists when they were controlling Raqqa city,” it added.

A deadly ISIS attack targeted SDF positions in the terror group’s former stronghold of Raqqa, now controlled by the SDF, on December 26, killing at least six fighters of the Kurdish force and injuring many others.

ISIS swept through vast swathes of Syrian land in 2014 but it was declared devoid of territorial control after the SDF overran its last bastion in Baghouz in 2019.

The US army said in a statement on Thursday that the coalition forces and SDF conducted 43 anti-ISIS operations in Iraq and Syria last month.

“These operations degraded ISIS and removed multiple senior ISIS militants from the battlefield, including the Emir of Raqqa and a Syrian provincial media and security operative. These successful operations are part of the mission to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS,” it said.

"While our efforts have degraded ISIS, the group's vile ideology remains uncontained and unconstrained," Gen. Michael "Erik" Kurilla, commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM) was cited in the statement. "ISIS continues to represent a threat to not only Iraq and Syria, but to the stability and security of the region. Therefore, we must continue the fight against ISIS alongside our partners."

CENTCOM said that 11 ISIS operatives were killed and 227 suspects were detained in January.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/02022023

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ISIS killed 53 civilians

Syrian newspaper Al-Watan reported on Friday that 53 Syrian civilians, who were collecting truffles, were killed in a terrorist attack by ISIS in the southeast of the city of Al-Sukhna, in the eastern countryside of Homs

ISIS militants attacked on Friday evening civilians with light and medium-grade weapons while they [civilians] were searching for truffles in the desert lands of Badia Al-Sukhna, Russian news agency Sputnik reported.

The agency added that the "terrorists targeted the civilians with a barrage of machine-gun fire from a nearby area."

Sources told the news agency that the victims were 53 civilians, in addition to a military officer and two members of the "Global Work Safety" Department of the Syrian Interior Ministry.

The source suggested that the death toll from the terrorist attack would rise as contact was lost with some of the truffle farmers that were in the area of the attack.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... ter-struck

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ISIS land mines kill 10

Land mines left behind by the Islamic State group in central Syria went off in two different locations on Monday, killing 10 workers as they were collecting truffles in the countryside and wounding 12, state media reported

According to Syria's state news agency SANA, the two mines exploded east of the central town of Salamiyeh. All the casualties were taken to a hospital in the town, the report added. It wasn't immediately clear what had triggered the explosions.

It is not uncommon for mines left behind years ago, when ISIS controlled large parts of Syria, to go off inadvertently, usually when stepped on, inflicting casualties.

ISIS was driven out of all the territory it once held in Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2019, but the extremists left behind countless bombs and booby traps, and large areas have yet to be cleared. The militant group’s sleeper cells still carry deadly attacks both in Syria and Iraq.

Earlier this month, ISIS sleeper cells attacked workers collecting truffles near the central town of Sukhna, killing at least 53 people, mostly workers but also some Syrian government security forces.

The truffles are a seasonal delicacy that can be sold for a high price. Since the truffle hunters work in large groups in remote areas, IS militants in previous years have repeatedly preyed on them, emerging from the desert to abduct them, kill some and ransom others for money.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/30 ... 10-workers

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ISIS poses ideological threat

Speaking at the second annual Erbil Forum, Haider al-Abadi, stated that “ISIS as an ideology still exists. You cannot overcome an ideology with guns,” referring to the fact that the jihadist group was declared militarily defeated in 2017

"The population assumed that the threat of ISIS disappeared, but it didn't. ISIS remained dangerous until we smacked their heads in Mosul," Abadi stated.

ISIS seized large swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory in 2014 and declared a so-called “caliphate.” While the group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, it still continues to pose serious security risks through hit-and-run attacks, bombings, and abductions across several provinces.

The terror group is particularly active in the disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad, stretching across several provinces including Kirkuk, Salahaddin, and Diyala.

Over 200 ISIS fighters were killed in Iraq in 2022, Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji, spokesperson for the Joint Operations Command, told Rudaw late December.

Politics and economics in Iraq

"The country requires a unified vision and we need the best people to come enact upon that vision," Abadi said when touching upon the economic and political changes Iraq faces.

"If we as a collective do not change ourselves, nobody else from the outside world will come and change us," Abadi added. "The change has to come from the ballot boxes."

Snap parliamentary elections were held last October, resulting in a victory for prominent Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. After failing to gather support to form a government, the Sadrist bloc consisting of 73 MPs resigned from parliament in June.

Months of political stalemate followed and the peak of tension between the rival Shiite factions manifested into deadly clashes in September which left at least 30 people dead, marking the worst violence the capital had witnessed in years.

"This was a political decision via a political movement, but the basic constraint was posed by the constitution," the former Iraqi premier said regarding the withdrawal of the Sadrist Movement from the Iraqi political process.

Abadi also touched upon the instability of the Iraqi dinar on the exchange market. Iraq earlier in February restored the exchange rate of the IQD-USD to 1,300 per dollar, the highest value of the dinar since 2020, amid a depreciation of the dinar leading to a surge in prices of basic goods and protests by Iraqi citizens.

"The issue of exchange rates is very dangerous. As a prime minister, I was supporting the stable exchange rate because if you decrease the exchange rate, people will benefit ... but this does not work alone," Abadi said as the Iraqi dinar oversees a devaluation.

The drop of the Iraqi dinar value was attributed to corruption, smuggling dollars out of Iraq, and pressure from the United States.

"My vision is that we should have an open market, of course this open market requires auditing and monitoring ... you need to have a monitoring system and follow up with the people who smuggle US dollars," he added.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/020320232

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ISIS prison reinforced
Wladimir van Wilgenburg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Security forces have mobilized more troops near two prisons holding thousands of ISIS detainees in the Hasakah province in Syria, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor reported on Friday

The SOHR report suggested that more security forces were deployed in the vicinity of Al-Sina’a (Ghuwairan) prison in Hasakah city, including armoured vehicles, and roads were blocked in the vicinity of the prison by commando forces.

Moreover, security forces were deployed in the vicinity of Alaya prison in Qamishlo, amid reports of clashes among the prisoners, including those belonging to ISIS.

Reports of reinforcements near the prisons come after the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, visited US troops in northeast Syria.

AFP reported that the general also "inspected force protection measures and asserted repatriation efforts for the Al-Hol refugee camp.”

There are approximately 10,000 ISIS fighters held in detention centers in northeast Syria by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Earlier. Major General Matthew McFarlane, the commanding general of the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, told Kurdistan 24 during a press conference that the US-led coalition “continue to monitor both the threats and potential threats of detention facilities closely guarded by SDF across northeast Syria.”

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/30 ... yria:-SOHR

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ISIS could come back stronger

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani has warned that the so-called ISIS could come back “stronger” if the US-led coalition against the terror group withdraws from Iraq

Barzani’s remarks came during an interview, which aired on Monday, with BBC Arabic’s Special Correspondent Feras Kilani in Erbil.

“If coalition forces withdraw completely, I am certain that Daesh – Arabic acronym for ISIS – will come back stronger,” Barzani told the British-Palestinian journalist, adding the group still poses a “serious threat.”

ISIS was territorially defeated in 2017 by the Iraqi and Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces, with air support from the international coalition. Despite their defeat, remnants of the group still launch sporadic attacks on both civilian and security actors.

“Even those who call for the withdrawal of Coalition forces know this is a fact,” Barzani said.

The security consortium changed its mandate to training, advising and assisting Iraqi and Kurdish forces, and providing air support during the three-year long fight against the group.

In response to repeated calls by the Iranian-affiliated militia forces and politicians for ending the coalition forces mission in Iraq, members of the consortium continue to insist they are in the country at the invitation of the Iraqi government.

Prime Minister Mohammad Shia’ Al-Sudani in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in mid-January said the presence of the coalition forces in the country is “needed.”

“We believe that foreign forces are still necessary,” the premier said.

Following the January 2020 US strike that killed the Iranian top commander Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi comrade near the Baghdad International Airport, the Iranian-backed blocs inside the Iraqi parliament voted to oust the US forces in Iraq.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/30 ... 9s-Barzani

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ISIS kills truffle hunters

The Islamic State group killed 15 people foraging for desert truffles in conflict-ravaged central Syria by cutting their throats, while 40 others are missing, a war monitor said Friday

Since February, at least 150 people -- most of them civilians -- have been killed by ISIS attacks targeting truffle hunters or by landmines left by the extremists, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria's desert truffles fetch high prices in a country battered by 12 years of war and a crushing economic crisis.

"At least 15 people, including seven civilians and eight local pro-regime fighters, were killed by ISIS fighters who slit their throats while they were collecting truffles on Thursday," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

Forty others are missing following the attack in Hama province, he added.

Syrian state media did not immediately report the incident.

Between February and April each year, hundreds of impoverished Syrians search for truffles in the vast Syrian Desert, or Badia -- a known hideout for jihadists that is also littered with landmines.

Prized fungus

The monitor said that ISIS was taking advantage of the annual harvest of the desert fungus delicacy to carry out attacks in remote locations.

Foragers risk their lives to collect the delicacies, despite repeated warnings about landmines and ISIS fighters.

The Syrian Desert is renowned for producing some of the best quality truffles in the world.

The prized fungus can sell for up to $25 per kilo ($11 per pound) depending on size and grade -- in a country where the average monthly wage is around $18.

Earlier this month, IS fighters killed three truffle hunters and kidnapped at least 26 others in northern Syria, according to the monitor, which relies on a vast network of sources inside Syria.

That attack happened near positions held by pro-Iran forces, said the Britain-based Observatory.

In February, ISIS fighters on motorcycles opened fire on truffle hunters, killing at least 68 people, the war monitor said at the time.

After IS lost their last scraps of territory in March 2019 following a military onslaught backed by a US-led coalition, ISIS remnants in Syria mostly retreated to hideouts in the desert.

They have since used such hideouts to ambush civilians, Kurdish-led forces, Syrian government troops and pro-Iranian fighters, while also mounting attacks in neighbouring Iraq.

Syria's war has claimed the lives of around half a million people and displaced millions since it erupted in March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... a:-monitor

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ISIS in al-Hol camp
Wladimir van Wilgenburg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The UK-based Syrian Observatory For Human Rights (SOHR) reports that ISIS agents on Wednesday set fire to the headquarters of a charitable organization in the center of Al-Hol camp in the Hasakah countryside

The charity organization targeted was not identified by SOHR, and it is unclear whether it was a local or foreign organization.

Security forces and residents of the camp rushed to control the fire, which caused only material damages, amid a state of tension and panic among civilians.

The al-Hol camp hosts thousands of ISIS families.

The majority of al-Hol's residents are Iraqi refugees and displaced Syrians. However, the camp also houses many foreigners thought to have ISIS links.

The US-led coalition against ISIS and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have repeatedly urged countries to take responsibility for their citizens who joined ISIS and are now being held in displacement camps and prisons in Syria.

Repatriation would not only ensure that these individuals are held accountable for their actions but also prevent them from potentially rejoining terrorist groups in the future.

The attack is a stark reminder of the dangers that ISIS continues to pose in northeast Syria.

Despite efforts by the international community and local authorities to combat ISIS, the group continues to launch attacks on civilian targets and the Syrian Democratic Forces.

SOHR also reported on Thursday that one SDF fighter was killed by suspected ISIS cells in Deir ez-Zor.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... camp:-SOHR