The Islamic State (ISIS) group has killed five Kurdish fighters in an attack in Syria’s eastern Deir Az Zor province, according to the group’s affiliated news agency. The assault highlights growing concerns that ISIS is attempting a dangerous resurgence.
Farhad Shami, spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), confirmed the fatalities to Reuters on Monday, calling the incident “one of the deadliest attacks” on SDF forces in recent times.
Deir Az Zor, once captured by ISIS in 2014 during the group’s territorial expansion, was retaken by Syrian government forces in 2017. At its peak, ISIS held vast swathes of land across Syria and Iraq, including major cities like Raqqa and Mosul, imposing harsh rule over millions.
In 2014, ISIS’s then-leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate spanning both countries, an era marked by brutal violence. “The group ruled over an area half the size of the United Kingdom,” with atrocities that included “the mass beheading of civilians, the massacre of 1,700 Iraqi soldiers, and the enslavement of thousands of Yazidi women,” according to human rights reports.
A US-led international coalition of over 80 countries was formed in September 2014 to counter the threat. The campaign culminated in March 2019 when Kurdish-led fighters seized Baghouz, the last ISIS-held territory in Syria. The group had already suffered a major defeat in Iraq with the liberation of Mosul in July 2017 and the fall of Raqqa three months later.
Despite these losses, ISIS has continued to operate in the shadows. The group is “still actively recruiting and carrying out deadly attacks around the world,” raising alarm among security analysts.
Although ISIS’s self-proclaimed caliphate collapsed after al-Baghdadi’s death in a U.S. special forces raid in 2019, recent events suggest the extremist threat remains alive.
