Russia strikes Islamic State cities in Syria as the insurgency gains ground

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors developments in the Syrian war, said 26 members of the Islamic State had died in Russian airstrikes in Palmyra and other areas of the central Syrian desert in recent days.

In 2015, the Islamic State captured the ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra and destroyed a number of Roman temples, tombs and other objects. Supported by Russian airstrikes, the Syrian government resumed its ruins in 2016.

The airstrikes came after the Islamic State claimed to have killed two Russian soldiers who tried to land in a helicopter in the Syrian province of Homs.

Since hiding in the desert in central and eastern Syria, Islamic State militants in the past year have expanded their coverage, hitting major highways across the country, attacking oil convoys, assassinating Syrian military commanders and killing a Russian commander-in-chief. a roadside bombing. in April 2020.

Although they no longer control significant territory two years after losing a self-proclaimed caliphate, militants are accelerating the pace of their attacks, leaving Mr Assad to fight an insurgency in parts of the country he nominally governs.

“You can contain it, but you can’t destroy it,” said Robert Ford, a former US ambassador to Syria, referring to the Islamic State.

Growing violence poses problems for Russia and Iran. The two foreign powers have helped President Bashar al-Assad regain much of the country and are key to efforts to regain control of the government in the remote parts of central and eastern Syria.

Meanwhile, Iran-backed factions are fortifying desert bases on the Syrian-Iraqi border, in an effort to reduce Islamic State attacks and ensure influence in the region. The bases have so far proved ineffective, says Manhal Bareesh, a Syrian researcher, as the Islamic State is able to strike at Iranian-backed factions even within the relative security of big cities and towns.

The insurgency also adds pressure on the Biden administration as it considers the future of the US presence in Syria, which includes hundreds of US troops working with local militias to fight the Islamic State in a section of eastern Syria north of the Euphrates River.

US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces operations have killed groups of Islamic State fighters and commanders in northeastern Syria to seek refuge in government-owned territory south of the Euphrates, according to Omar Abu Layla, a Syrian expert on the conflict and the head of a news story in Deir Ezzor, the largest city in the east of the country.

After the Islamic State captured a vast area of ​​territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014, its territorial empire collapsed following an assault by Iraqi and Syrian forces backed by thousands of US airstrikes and a parallel military effort by Iran. In 2019, the extremist group lost its last territorial position in northeastern Syria.

Counter-terrorism officials and experts expected the group to return to its former status as a grassroots militant organization formed during the US insurgency against the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. The intensity of the group’s renaissance surprised many who followed the group’s evolution.

In 2020, the Islamic State carried out at least 286 attacks in Syria, more than double the previous year, and killed at least 432 pro-government fighters and 41 civilians, according to a detailed number of attacks by Gregory Waters, a researcher at the Institute of the Middle East and a specialist in the Syrian insurgency of extremists. Since January 2021, the group’s attacks have killed at least 189 people, including civilians, according to Mr Waters.

Syrian and Russian forces ‘operations to retake the militants’ cities have collapsed against more formidable opposition. In an operation last year, Syrian government troops and Russian military contractors tried to rid the Islamic State of an oasis in central Syria after a series of attacks on a nearby city. Overwhelmed by Islamic State fighters in the area, pro-government forces were forced to withdraw, according to Syrian monitors and Mr Waters.

Islamic State attacks on oil installations and oil-carrying convoys have created widespread discontent with the Damascus regime. Mr Assad and his allies have failed to provide adequate services to areas they have recaptured from the Islamic State, according to Saddam al-Jassir, a researcher in eastern Syria.

“Daesh is an idea,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. “He never disappeared and is still there because there was no idea to take his place.”

Write to Jared Malsin at [email protected]