US says IS is trying to “regroup” amid increasing attacks in Syria and Iraq | ISIL/ISIS News

In the first six months of the year, the group claimed responsibility for 153 attacks in Syria and Iraq.

The US military says ISIL (ISIS) is trying to “regroup” as its number of attacks in Syria and Iraq is expected to double last year’s level.

The armed group has already claimed responsibility for 153 attacks in both countries in the first six months of 2024, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Wednesday.

“The increase in attacks suggests that IS is trying to regroup after several years of reduced strength,” it said.

It has been more than a decade since IS, then led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, advanced across large parts of Iraq and Syria with the aim of establishing a self-proclaimed “caliphate.” At its peak in 2014, its fighters controlled a third of Iraq and Syria.

While the group lost control of the area following attacks by US-backed forces, some fighters remain hidden, mostly in remote areas, from where they continue to carry out attacks. In 2019, US special forces killed al-Baghdadi in a raid in Idlib in northwestern Syria.

CENTCOM said it conducted 196 missions with Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), killing 44 IS militants and arresting 166 between January and June this year.

Domestic political tensions

A coalition of more than 80 countries has been formed to fight IS under the leadership of the United States. CENTCOM stated that “the continued pursuit of the approximately 2,500 IS fighters who remain at large in Iraq and Syria is a critical factor in the lasting defeat” of the group.

General Michael Erik Kurilla, the commander of CENTCOM, said the focus would also be on attacking members of the group “who seek to conduct external operations outside Iraq and Syria.”

Iraqi government officials said they could control the group’s threat with their military forces and had begun talks with the United States aimed at ending the U.S.-led military coalition’s mission in Iraq.

These talks are taking place against the backdrop of increasing domestic tensions over the US military presence in the region.

From October to February, a coalition of Iranian-allied groups – the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq – launched regular drone attacks on US military bases in Iraq and Syria.

The Islamic Resistance said its attacks were in retaliation for Washington’s support for Israel in the ongoing war against Gaza and aimed to force US troops to withdraw from Iraq.

These attacks largely came to a halt after an attack on a base in Jordan near the Syrian border killed three US soldiers in late January, prompting US strikes in Iraq.