ISIS makes a comeback: Terrorist group launches several attacks across Syria

BEIRUT, LEBANON (2:30 P.M.) – The month of May has witnessed a resurgence in Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) activities across Syria, with the terrorist group launching constant attacks against both the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Over the course of May, the Islamic State has taken advantage of the coronavirus crisis to launch attacks on installations, economic sites, and military posts, often engaging in brief battles before disappearing into the vast Syrian desert.

Most recently, the Islamic State has carried out a string of attacks inside the Badiya Al-Sham region of eastern Homs and the Al-Jazeera region of eastern Syria (Al-Hasakah and Deir Ezzor).

According to a military source from the Syrian Army, these Islamic State attacks have forced the SAA’s high command to redeploy forces to a number of fronts to help deal with these attacks.

Reinforcements from the Syrian Army, National Defense Forces (NDF), and Palestinian-led Jerusalem Brigade (Liwaa Al-Quds) arrived in eastern Homs this past week and since then, they have conducted a number of sweeping operations to identify and destroy the terrorist group’s hideouts.

However, despite these efforts to target the terrorist group’s remote positions, ISIS continues to evade capture and wreak havoc, especially in unsuspecting areas where the hit-and-run attacks catch the military offguard.

In one particular incident recently, Islamic State fighters were able to slip past the Syrian Army’s lines and target some gas fields.

In the SDF controlled areas, ISIS has increased their activities in conjunction with their other sleeper cells in neighboring Iraq.

ISIS terrorists have used the Syrian-Iraqi border region to continue to carry out well-organized raids and field operations; this has prompted the Iraqi military to respond by launching large-scale attacks against the group.

Even with these operations, the Islamic State has remained elusive, often proving they can strike from anywhere inside of Syria, despite not controlling any territory of their own.