Russia unleashed airstrikes that it says killed as many as 200 militants in central Syria amid a growing attack by Islamic State insurgents that threatens the Syrian government’s access to oil and increases risks to its foreign lenders.
The airstrikes on a training camp took place in Palmyra on Monday, according to Alexander Karpov, deputy head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Parties in Syria, a military entity. Islamic State militants are known to be active in the area.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors developments in the Syrian war, said 26 members of the Islamic State have been killed in Russian air strikes in Palmyra and other parts of the central Syrian desert in recent days.
Mourners with the coffins of Syrian army soldiers in the city of Homs. Islamic State claimed responsibility for a December 30 attack that killed nearly 40 soldiers in Syria.
Photo:
– / Agence France-Presse / Getty Images
Islamic State captured the ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra in 2015 and destroyed a series of Roman temples, tombs and other objects. Backed by Russian air strikes, the Syrian government recaptured the ruins in 2016.
The airstrikes came after Islamic State claimed to have killed two Russian soldiers who attempted to land in a helicopter in Syria’s Homs province.
From their desert hideouts in central and eastern Syria, Islamic State militants have extended their reach over the past year by hitting major highways across the country, attacking oil convoys, assassinating Syrian military commanders and a Russian general- Major in a roadside bombing. in April 2020.
Although they no longer hold significant territory two years after the loss of a self-proclaimed caliphate, the militants are accelerating the pace of their attacks, prompting Mr. Assad must fight a rebellion in parts of the country he nominally rules.
“You can comprehend it, but you cannot destroy it,” said Robert Ford, a former US ambassador to Syria, referring to Islamic State.
Increasing violence is a problem for Russia and Iran. The two foreign powers helped President Bashar al-Assad reclaim much of the land and are critical to efforts to reintroduce government control in remote parts of central and eastern Syria.
The damage from an air raid last month is said to have been caused by Russian planes at a truck depot near Bab al-Hawa, Syria.
Photo:
Anas Alkharboutli / Zuma Press
Meanwhile, Iranian-backed factions are strengthening desert bases on the Syrian-Iraqi border in an effort to curb attacks from the Islamic State and secure their influence in the region. The bases have proven ineffective so far, says Manhal Bareesh, a Syrian researcher, as the Islamic State is able to attack Iranian-backed factions even within the relative security of major cities.
The uprising is also putting pressure on the Biden administration as it reflects on the future of the US presence in Syria, which includes hundreds of US troops working with local militias to fight Islamic State in part of Eastern Syria north of the United States. river Euphrates.
According to Omar Abu Layla, a Syrian expert on the conflict and the head of a news channel in Deir Ezzor, the largest city in the east of the country.
After Islamic State conquered much of the territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014, its territorial empire collapsed under an attack by Iraqi and Syrian forces backed by thousands of US air strikes and a parallel military effort organized by Iran. In 2019, the extremist group lost its last territorial position in northeastern Syria.
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Counterterrorism officials and experts expected the group to return to its former state of militant grassroots organization that was formed during the uprising against the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. The intensity of the group’s resurgence has surprised many who have seen the evolution of the group. followed.
In 2020, 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 count of the attacks by Gregory Waters, a Middle East Institute researcher and specialist in the Syrian uprising of extremists. As of January 2021, the group’s attacks have killed at least 189 people, including civilians, according to Mr. Waters.
Operations by Syrian and Russian forces to recapture the militants’ strongholds have collapsed due to a more formidable opposition. In an operation last year, Syrian government forces and Russian military contractors attempted to clear the Islamic State from an oasis in central Syria after a series of attacks on a nearby city. Overwhelmed by IS fighters in the area, the pro-government forces were forced to withdraw, according to Syrian observers and Mr. Waters.
The Islamic State’s attacks on oil facilities and convoys carrying oil have led to widespread discontent with the Damascus regime. According to Saddam al-Jassir, a researcher from Eastern Syria, Mr. Assad and his allies have failed to provide adequate services to the areas they have recaptured from Islamic State.
“Daesh is an idea,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. “It never left and it’s still there because there was no idea to take its place.”
Write to Jared Malsin at [email protected]
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