Latest news with #MenOfDignity
Asharq Al-Awsat
3 days 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.
The National
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Governor of Druze-majority Suweida released after being held hostage at town hall
An armed group briefly held the governor of Syria 's Suweida province hostage at the town hall on Wednesday, demanding the release of a prisoner, who had previously been convicted of stealing several vehicles, Syria's Information Ministry said. The assailants stormed the government building at gunpoint, sealed its gates, and detained Governor Mustafa Al Bakour, along with employees and security guards, the ministry said, before eventually releasing them. Later, the convicted individual was released under threat, for the safety of the hostages. The same group has been implicated in similar thefts. 'The attackers brandished their machine guns at the governor, employees, and building guards after they had locked the doors. They claimed they were demanding the release of a relative detained in a car theft case,' the ministry said. 'Following the incident, Suweida 's Nationalist Factions, led by the Mountain Brigade, intervened to remove the outlawed group. The Men of Dignity movement was mobilised and secured the governor's exit route from the building.' The ministry said that 'enforcing the law and maintaining security in Suweida Governorate is an irreversible choice. We will not tolerate any attempt to destabilise security or undermine state institutions'. The Druze majority province of Suweida in south-western Syria continues to experience tension despite an agreement signed with the government earlier this month. Violence erupted in Syria earlier this month after an audio recording allegedly of a Druze citizen and considered blasphemous circulated on social media. Syrian authorities later said the recording was fake. Sunni militants attacked Druze towns near Damascus and more than a hundred Druze were killed as a result. Syrian Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat Al Hijri condemned at the time a 'genocidal campaign' against his people and called for 'international forces to maintain peace and prevent the continuation of these crimes'. The Druze are a small religious sect that emerged from a branch of Islam in the 11th century. Their faith blends elements of Islam with ancient traditions. The Arabic-speaking minority is concentrated in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and estimated to be about 1 million. In Syria, the largest Druze population is based in the southern province of Suweida, as well as in certain Damascus suburbs such as Jaramana and Sahnaya. Their numbers in Syria are estimated at about 700,000.
