The Islamic State regains power in Syria

The Islamic State showed a renewal in Syria, attracting new fighters and increasing the number of attacks last year, according to American officials and US officials, which increases the threat of instability in a country that is already volatile after that after that The fall of President Bashar al -Assad.

The group is still anywhere near a force a decade ago, when it controlled Eastern Syria and a large part of northern Iraq, but there is a danger, as experts say, that the Islamic State can find a way to liberate thousands of its hard -line fighters who are being held in prisons Syrian Kurdish forces backed by the United States.

The dangerous return of the Islamic state would undermine a rare moment when it seems that Syria has an opportunity to overcome a brutal dictatorship. But it can resonate on a larger scale and spread instability throughout the Middle East. The extremist group used Syria one day as a base to plan attacks on the country’s neighbors and abroad in Europe.

Between 9000 and 10,000 fighters from the Islamic State and about 40,000 members of their families detainedD in northeastern Syria. They will not only add their escape to the group numbers, but also provides a coup for advertising.

“The crown jewel of the Islamic State is still prisons and camps,” said Collin Clark, head of the Sofan Group Research, a global intelligence and security company.

He said: “This is the place where the experienced fighters are fighting.” “In addition to any muscle adding it to the group, if these prisons are open, the value of pure advertising” will serve the group’s employment efforts for several months.

Last month, senior US intelligence officials presented their annual evaluation around the world for threats, and concluded that the Islamic State will try to exploit the end of the Assad government to the keen prisoners and revive its ability to plan and carry out attacks.

The United States announced late last year that its army has doubled the number of its forces on the ground in Syria, to 2000, and it appears that many of its strikes in the Islamic State in the Syrian desert in the past few months may overcome the immediate threat.

But President Trump has expressed his depth Doubts about keeping our forces in the countryThe meeting of other developments in Syria has disturbed the experts who say, combined, may facilitate the Islamic State to reassemble their ranks.

The United States hopes that the new Syrian government, led by one of al -Qaeda, will become a partner, a partner against a successful Islamic state. The initial signs were positive, as the group works on the intelligence submitted by the United States to disable eight conspiracies in the Islamic State in Damascus, according to senior US military officials, provided that his identity was not disclosed to discuss sensitive operations.

But the violence is moved by sectarianism last month, where Hundreds of civilians were killedand The lack of government control showed Some forces have nominal under their leadership, and it is not clear how much the frequency range will have to fight the Islamic State.

The Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim rebel group, follows its beginnings to al -Qaeda in Iraq, where it was defeated by local militias and American forces. Its killers were renamed as an Islamic state and took advantage of the chaos of the civil war of Syria to seize vast areas of land and return to Iraq.

I gained a bad reputation for kidnapping and sexual enslavement and Public executionsAnd it was organized or inspired a series of terrorist attacks throughout Europe. The group has been directed to a large extent more than five by a mixture of the Kurdish -led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria and the American forces. But by early 2024, the Assad regime was increasingly on the defense. It was its Iranian and Russian allies It spread due to the conflicts elsewhere; The Kurds in Syria were forced to convert the forces to fight Turkish attacks.

However, although it no longer carries many lands, the Islamic State is still Spreading her radical ideology Through secret cells and regional subsidiaries outside Syria and online. Last year, the group was behind Large attacks in IranRussia and Pakistan.

In Syria, according to the US Department of Defense, who spoke unknown to discuss information that has not yet been publicly issued, the group obtained 294 attacks in 2024, up from 121, and called in 2023. The United Nations Islamic State Monitoring Committee said about 400 attacks, while the human rights observer said in Sarwa.

The attacks seem to date this year, according to human rights groups and US military officials – partly due to the recent American bombing campaign Supporting the Islamic State fighters – But it is still relatively early in the year and the situation is suspended on the edge of a knife.

Aaron Zellin, a fellow of the Washington Institute who follows the activities of Islamic groups and advertising for more than 15 years, said that the turmoil facing the new government is from the remains of the Assad regime Drivers from Türkiye In Syria, its biggest challenges were at the present time. But he warned that the Islamic State added another threat.

He said: “One of the great attack in Damascus against foreigners or expatriates and everyone will change how they look at it, so we need to be careful.”

Fears of escaping from a possible prison by detainees from the Islamic State were increased due to the ongoing violence in the northeast. Detention centers in northeastern Syria are guarded by Kurdish fighters, the Syrian democratic forces, which also help protect the nearby camps carrying members of the Islamic State family. But these forces have paid attention due to attacks by the supported Turkish militias.

The Turkish authorities view the Kurdish fighters as the Syrian branch of the Kurdish separatists in Türkiye who have suffered a 40 -year battle against the Turkish government. Türkiye sees them as terrorists.

Prisons have already proven to be a source of concern. In 2022, Nearly 400 Prisoners associated with the Islamic State fled during the Islamic State’s assault on prison In the city of Hasaka. At that time, the US Special Operations Forces helped the Syrian democratic forces control the situation.

One of the senior American officials said that American intelligence in the possible prison break helped the Syrian democratic forces disrupt other pieces before they occur.

In the Hall family, the largest camp in which the Islamic State and children of the State were held for years, the extremist group was testing the borders. In a conversation ReporT, which is the United Nations Committee that helps the chaos surrounding the fall of Mr. Al al -Assad, allowed some Islamic State fighters to escape from the camp, although it was not clear how many fighters.

“There is no doubt that he will create a vacuum,” said Kawa Hassan, an Iraqi analyst and a non -resident colleague at the Stemphson Center, a non -Partisan organization in Washington, if the Syrian Kurds are weakened. “And only the Islamic State flourishes in a vacuum.”