ISIS looks for comeback in Syria’s Umm al-Qura

Aya Ezz

After ISIS issued a video in August 2019 threatening the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the United States, it recently released a second video highlighting its terrorist operations against the Syrian army in the Badia desert in an attempt to signify its presence.

The new release focuses of the terrorist organization’s operations in the Syrian Badia, especially in the village of Al-Sukhnah in the northern countryside of Homs, which ISIS called Umm al-Qura after it took control of the area in 2015.

The video also shows ISIS militants using subsidiary roads in the desert and launching surprise attacks in that area with various weapons and missiles.

ISIS activity in Al-Sukhnah

Al-Sukhnah, which is considered the second largest city in the Syria’s Badia desert after Palmyra, is administratively affiliated with Homs Governorate. The area has been transformed into a center for organizing terrorist operations, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

Meanwhile, the Bawaba Syria website pointed out that ISIS had tried to return to the area multiple times in late 2019 through a group of attacks, but all of them were unsuccessful.

According to Bawaba Syria, the terrorist organization is currently in pockets between the governorates of Homs and Deir Ezzor, from the outskirts of Al-Sukhnah to the cities of Albukamal and Al-Mayadin in Deir Ezzor. The website stressed that ISIS launches blitz attacks against the army forces along the Syrian desert, seeking mainly to take control of weapons and ammunition.

Inconsistency

However, these attacks come at a time when ISIS has warned its elements against any operations due to the outbreak of the corona pandemic. But the International Crisis Group reported that “ISIS will not calm down under the current circumstances, but will take advantage of the opportunity to spread the pandemic to return to the scene again by intensifying its terrorist operations in Iraq and Syria.”

ISIS even called on the governments of Syria and Iraq to be fully vigilant and prepared for confrontation, warning that it could take advantage of the corona virus pandemic.

Syrian political activist Rayyan Maarouf told the Reference that ISIS has already intensified its terrorist attacks in various areas in northern Syria, trying to rob weapons and ammunition depots belonging to the Syrian army. He stressed that the organization urging its members not to carry out terrorist operations due to the corona pandemic just as camouflage to keep the gaze of security services away from it.