"Reactivating Sleeper Cells, Distributing Weapons": How ISIS Is Reemerging In Iraq, Syria

NDTV

2 days ago

Bagdad:
The Islamic State (IS) is reportedly trying to exploit the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime to stage a comeback in Syria and neighbouring Iraq. The terror group has started reactivating fighters in Syria and Iraq, with security operatives in both countries, who have been monitoring IS for years, foiling at least a dozen major plots this year, according to a report by Reuters.
The United Nations estimates IS, also known as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) or Daesh, has 1,500 to 3,000 fighters in the two countries. But, its most active branches are in Africa, according to Search International Terrorist Entities (SITE) data.
The US military believes the group's secretive leader is Abdulqadir Mumin, who heads the Somalia branch, according to an earlier report.
Assad's Fall Triggered ISIS Moments
Middle East leaders and their Western allies have feared that the fall of Assad may result in the Islamic State's rise in the region, where the extremist group once imposed a reign of terror over millions.
Quoting sources, Reuters reported that IS is attempting to do just that by activating sleeper cells, surveilling potential targets and distributing guns, silencers and explosives, and stepping up recruitment and propaganda efforts.
However, the terror group has not achieved any major success so far due to vigilant security operatives working in the area.
Operations in Iraq
The group's first strike in the region came in December last year, the same month Syria's Bashar Assad was toppled. As rebels were advancing on Damascus, IS commanders gathered near Raqqa -- the former capital of their self-declared caliphate-- and sent two envoys to Iraq with verbal instructions to the group's followers to launch attacks, sources said.
The terrorists were not successful in their effort as they were reportedly captured at a checkpoint while travelling in northern Iraq on December 2. The captured envoys warned Iraqi security forces about a potential suicide bomber attack. Eleven days later, Iraqi forces tracked a suspected IS suicide bomber to a crowded restaurant in the northern town of Daquq using his cell phone. The man was shot dead before he could detonate an explosives belt, the report said.
The foiled attack confirmed Iraq's suspicions about the group, according to Colonel Abdul Ameer al-Bayati of the Iraqi Army's 8th Division, which is deployed in the area. "Islamic State elements have begun to reactivate after years of lying low, emboldened by the chaos in Syria," he said.
In Iraq, aerial surveillance and intelligence sources on the ground have reportedly picked up increased IS activity in the northern Hamrin Mountains, a longtime refuge, and along key roads, Ali al-Saidi. Iraqi officials believe IS seized large stockpiles of weapons left behind by Assad's forces and worry some could be smuggled into Iraq.
Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Baghdad was in contact with Damascus about IS, which he told Reuters in January was growing and spreading into more areas. "We hope that Syria, in the first place, will be stable, and Syria will not be a place for terrorists," he said, "especially ISIS terrorists."
Operations In Syria
In Syria, sources believe that IS has also moved fighters from the desert area, a focus of coalition airstrikes, to cities including Aleppo, Homs and Damascus. "Of the challenges we face, Daesh is at the top of the list," Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab told state-owned Ekhbariya TV last week.
Syria's Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra told Reuters in January that the country was developing its intelligence-gathering efforts, and its security services would address any threat.
Has ISIS Weakened?
Despite the recent activities in the Middle East, there has been a drop in the number of attacks claimed by IS since Assad's fall.
IS claimed responsibility for 38 attacks in Syria in the first five months of 2025, putting it on track for a little over 90 claims this year, according to data from SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terrorists' activities online. That would be around a third of last year's claims, the data shows.
In Iraq, where IS originated, the group claimed four attacks in the first five months of 2025, versus 61 total last year.
At its peak between 2014 and 2017, IS held sway over roughly a third of Syria and Iraq, where it imposed its extreme interpretation of Islamic sharia law, gaining a reputation for shocking brutality.
US and Iraqi sources believe that IS remnants in Syria and Iraq have been dramatically weakened, unable to control territory since a US-led coalition and its local partners drove them from their last stronghold in 2019.
The coalition and partners hammered terrorist hideouts with airstrikes and raids after Assad's fall. Such operations captured or killed "terrorist elements," while preventing them from regrouping and carrying out operations, according to Iraqi spokesperson Sabah al-Numan.
Iraq's intelligence operations have also become more precise, through drones and other technology, he added.
Still, SITE's director, Rita Katz, cautioned against seeing the drop in IS attacks in Syria as a sign of weakness. "Far more likely that it has entered a restrategising phase," she said.