Latest news with #BasharAlAssad
Asharq Al-Awsat
5 hours ago
- General
- Asharq Al-Awsat
ISIS Attempts to Revive Operations in Syria
ISIS has claimed responsibility for its first attack on Syrian government forces since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad's regime last December. The announcement, made on Thursday, suggests the militant group is seeking to exploit Syria's fragile transitional period to rebuild its presence and revive its operations. According to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity, ISIS issued a statement claiming it had detonated an explosive device targeting a vehicle belonging to what it described as the 'apostate Syrian regime' in the southern province of Suwaida. The group referred to the new government as 'apostate' despite its origins in Islamist factions that played a role in Assad's ouster, underscoring ISIS' continued rejection of any authority outside its own ideology. SITE reported that this marks the group's first confirmed attack against Syria's new government forces. Local sources reported that the blast, which occurred Wednesday, killed one person and injured three others from a unit of the Syrian army. Separately, local news outlet Suwayda 24 reported an explosion Thursday morning on the Arika-Najran road in western Suwaida. Citing a source in the Engineering Unit of the 'Men of Dignity' movement - active in the predominantly Druze region - the report said an IED damaged an ambulance but caused no casualties. The device, weighing several kilograms and recently planted, appeared intended to strike any passing vehicle. The source described the incident as a 'terrorist act,' though it appears distinct from the attack claimed by ISIS. The group's renewed activity coincides with an intensifying crackdown by Syrian government forces on ISIS sleeper cells. In recent weeks, Syria's Interior Ministry released images of alleged group members captured during a raid in eastern Aleppo. Officials said the cell was involved in attacks on security personnel, including the killing of an officer. Authorities also confiscated weapons, explosives, and suicide vests. Earlier this month, Damascus' regional internal security chief, Hossam Al-Tahan, announced the arrest of several ISIS suspects in western Ghouta. The detainees were reportedly operating in areas such as Kiswa, Deir Khabiyeh, and Zakiyah. Security forces seized a cache of light and heavy weapons, including rocket launchers and IEDs. The regime also claims to have dismantled a separate ISIS cell earlier this year that was allegedly plotting an attack on a Shiite religious site near the capital. ISIS has not limited its threats to government forces. The group has continued attempts to destabilize the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the country's east. Though the group was territorially defeated in 2019 in the town of Baghouz, its fighters have reverted to guerrilla tactics, maintaining cells across central and eastern Syria.
Washington Post
10 hours ago
- General
- Washington Post
Syrian leader faces challenge of foreign militants who helped him win power
DAMASCUS, Syria — When Syrian insurgents rode victorious into Damascus late last year, their rebel leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was relying, in part, on thousands of foreign fighters to help overthrow Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship. Six months on, Sharaa is president, and the continued presence of those same Islamist militants, who came from as far afield as Europe and Central Asia to join the revolution, could now pose a profound challenge to his political survival.
Sky News
a day ago
- General
- Sky News
Islamic State group claims first attack on new Syrian government's forces since fall of Assad regime, says monitor
The Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, has claimed its first attack on the new Syrian government's forces since longtime president Bashar al Assad was ousted, according to a war monitoring body. In a statement, ISIS said it had planted a bomb on a "vehicle of the apostate regime" in the desert of the southern province of Sweida on 22 May. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) identified it as the first attack to be claimed by IS against Syrian forces since the 54-year Assad family rule ended late last year. SOHR said the attack on government forces had killed one civilian and wounded three soldiers. Islamic State also claimed a second bomb attack this week in a nearby area, targeting members of the Free Syrian Army, which is backed by the United States. IS said it had killed one fighter and wounded three. Neither the government nor a spokesperson for the Free Syrian Army were immediately available to comment on the reports. ISIS opposes the new rule in Damascus led by President Ahmad al Sharaa, who once ran al Qaeda's branch in Syria and fought against IS. In January, state media said intelligence officials in the post-Assad government had thwarted an IS plan to detonate a bomb at a Shia Muslim shrine south of Damascus. ISIS once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq but was largely defeated in Syria in March 2019, when US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters captured the last sliver of land it controlled. But small cells have continued to carry out deadly attacks, and US Central Command estimates around 2,500 ISIS fighters remain at large across Iraq and Syria. In March, US forces said they had killed ISIS's latest leader in Iraq and Syria, Abu Khadija. 5:06 Last month, Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford revealed in a documentary that Yazidi women were still enslaved in ISIS detention camps, 10 years after ISIS carried out systematic slaughter and mass abductions on the minority group. How al Sharaa met Trump Syria's new de facto government took charge after launching a rapid offensive in November, backed by other opposition groups, culminating in the downfall of Assad's regime in December. Donald Trump met al Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al Jolani, during his Middle East tour in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, promising to lift crippling economic sanctions imposed on Damascus since the days of Assad. The White House said in a statement after the meeting that President Trump had urged President al Sharaa to diplomatically recognise Israel, "tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria" and help the US suppress any resurgence of IS.
Khaleej Times
a day ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Syria welcomes Japan's decision to lift sanctions on four banks
Syria has welcomed Japan's decision to lift sanctions and unfreeze assets on four Syrian national banks, calling it a 'positive step' toward the country's economic recovery and reconstruction. Japanese broadcaster NHK World-Japan had reported that its government had decided to partially lift sanctions that had been imposed on Syria. As part of the move, sanctions were lifted on The Industrial Bank, Popular Credit Bank, Savings Bank and Agricultural Cooperative Bank. In a statement issued on Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said the move to ease restrictions would help bolster financial and economic cooperation between the two nations. 'This decision is a step in the right direction toward achieving stability and prosperity, and advancing Syria's reconstruction process,' the statement said. It added that the lifting of sanctions will facilitate the implementation of development projects across various sectors and help alleviate the hardships faced by the Syrian people. "Syria hopes that this step will pave the way for further openness and constructive cooperation with friendly Japan, based on mutual respect and common interests," it further said in the statement. On May 24, the United States lifted comprehensive economic sanctions on Syria on Friday, marking a dramatic policy shift following the end of Bashar al-Assad's regime and opening the door for new investment in the war-torn country.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
ISIL (ISIS) launches first attacks against new Syrian government
ISIL (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for an attack on the Syrian army, representing the armed group's first strike at government forces since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, according to analysts. In a statement released late on Thursday, ISIL said its fighters had planted an explosive device that struck a 'vehicle of the apostate regime' in southern Syria. The bombing appears to mark an escalation by ISIL, which views the new government in Damascus as illegitimate but has so far concentrated its activities against Kurdish forces in the north. The blast, in the al-Safa desert region of Sweida province on May 22, reportedly killed or wounded seven Syrian soldiers. A second bomb attack, claimed by ISIL earlier this week, targeted fighters from the United States-backed Kurdish-led Free Syrian Army in a nearby area. ISIL said one fighter was killed and three injured. There has been no official comment from the Syrian government, and the Free Syrian Army has yet to respond. Members of the new Syrian government that replaced al-Assad after his removal in December once had ties to al-Qaeda – a rival of ISIL – but broke with the group nearly a decade ago. However, over the past several months, ISIL has claimed responsibility only for attacks against the Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast. The United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the convoy blast was the first ISIL-claimed operation targeting the new Syrian military. ISIL was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 but maintains sleeper cells, particularly in the country's central and eastern deserts. While the group's capacity has been diminished, the latest attacks suggest it may be seeking to reassert itself amid shifting alliances and weakening state control.
