Enab Baladi – Hussam al-Mahmoud

The threats posed by the Islamic State group remain present in Syria after the fall of Assad’s regime more than three months ago, a concern felt by the neighboring countries of Syria, which decided during a meeting held in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on March 9th, to make a collective effort to combat the group.

During the final statement of the meeting, which was attended by the foreign ministers of Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey, in addition to defense ministers, heads of staff, and intelligence directors, it was agreed to condemn terrorism in all its forms and to cooperate in combating it militarily, security-wise, and intellectually. They also agreed to launch a joint operations center for coordination and collaboration in fighting the Islamic State group and to support existing regional and international efforts and forums aimed at eliminating the group and the threats it poses to the security of Syria, the region, and the world, including addressing the prisons of its members.

Prior to the final statement, there were speeches and contributions by participating foreign ministers, revolving around the necessity of reaching a joint effort in this context. The Jordanian foreign minister stated that the meeting discussed the challenges facing Syria and agreed on a joint effort to combat the Islamic State. Meanwhile, his Iraqi counterpart noted that the meeting focused on the threats posed by the Islamic State in the region and the growing number of its forces in the area.

The Iraqi minister emphasized that countries need to initiate and exchange intelligence information regarding the growth of the group, which negatively impacts the region’s security, indicating that the stability of Iraq stems from the stability of Syria.

The meeting, which will hold a second round in Turkey next April, confirmed Turkey’s intention to unify the capabilities of Syria’s neighboring countries to fight the Islamic State group.

Discussions about launching this operations center did not stop there; they took a serious turn expressed by the Iraqi foreign minister’s statements during his meeting in Baghdad with his Syrian counterpart, stressing the need for international cooperation to eradicate the Islamic State, confirming that the operations room to combat it will soon see the light.

A justified step

Despite international insistence on combating terrorist organizations in Syria, before and after Assad’s departure—evidenced by ongoing American strikes and International Coalition airstrikes targeting figures from the Guardians of Religion organization (an affiliate of al-Qaeda), both before and after it dissolved itself earlier this year—the Islamic State group re-entered the Syrian scene after a relative calm, marking a broad entry shortly after Assad’s fall. This justifies the regional pursuit for a united stance against its threat.

In January, the Islamic State considered that the military factions participating in the “Deterrence of Aggression” operation (which lasted 11 days and ended with the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime) were mere “pawns” in the hands of Turkey and other countries, asserting that they were “conducting a proxy war” between “Turkish pawns and Iranian arms.” It stated that “those who call for a civil state in Syria are partners and agents of the Jews, Crusaders, and a new tyrant.”

It also described the Syrian revolution as a “jahili revolution” because it seeks to establish the concept of a civil state, asserting that it is “a revolution and not a jihad for the sake of Allah,” and that it is a revolution to liberate from a repressive regime monopolizing power to reach another democratic regime that shares power.

The Islamic State’s threats did not stop at mere words and statements; it even attempted a bombing inside the shrine of Sayyida Zeinab in the Damascus countryside, which the Syrian General Intelligence Service thwarted on January 11.

A source in the General Intelligence Service accused the Islamic State of being behind the planning for the bombing. The Ministry of Interior subsequently announced the arrest of several individuals involved and published photos showing four individuals it claimed were affiliated with the group.

On March 18, the Syrian Ministry of Interior released a recorded statement containing confessions of members of a cell it said was linked to the Islamic State group, accused of attempting to bomb several sites in Syria, including in the city of Maaloula and the area of Sayyida Zeinab in the Damascus countryside, and involved in the killing of Abu Maria al-Qahtani.

According to the release, this cell aimed to execute operations of the utmost sensitivity in Syria, seeking to undermine security and stability and create chaos in the country.

The ministry confirmed the cell’s responsibility for the killing of former Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader, Maysar al-Jabouri, known as “Abu Maria al-Qahtani,” who was killed by a bomb blast targeting him in the area of Sarmada in the northern Idlib countryside in April 2024.

The cell had planned to carry out several attacks following the fall of the Syrian regime in December 2024, exploiting the security situation that Syria was experiencing, according to the internal release.

According to the cell’s confessions, the attacks were intended to focus on “minorities” from various sects in Syria “to fuel public and international opinion on this issue.”

The cell also admitted to planning to attack a church in the city of Maaloula with a car bomb coinciding with the New Year’s celebration, but heightened security prevented the plan’s execution.

HTS and SDF against the Islamic State

Researcher in political affairs and non-state groups, Ammar Farhoud, explained to Enab Baladi that this step is significant and serves the Syrian administration in gaining the legitimacy it seeks, through the international community, not just the Syrian community.

Farhoud believes that combating the Islamic State in collaboration with the international community is a significant step towards obtaining the required legitimacy and recognition, especially since the Islamic State does not pose just a local threat to Syria but is a transnational threat, classified on international terrorist lists, and it was the stated reason for the American presence in Syria. Including the new Syrian administration as a partner in fighting the Islamic State is a crucial step in the political context.

It is unlikely that the Syrian administration will rely on this step to obtain full recognition, given the international community’s demands before reaching this point. It is also noted that there is a strong competitor for Damascus in the Islamic State’s combat file, namely the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has the experience and manages prisons and camps, in addition to having fought the group alongside the United States for years.

“The Islamic State adapts quickly to the changes occurring on the ground, thus it is unlikely that old tools in combating it will yield positive results due to the changes in the group and the existence of a lax security grip, coupled with the opening of the Syrian geography to each other allowing for the movement and transfer of arms within Syria,” added the researcher.

Among the factors that could weaken the Islamic State’s capabilities, in addition to fighting against the SDF, is the addition of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) to this file, especially since the HTS has a similar background and expertise. Both teams belong to the same security, military, and religious school, making the HTS fight against the Islamic State a significant addition, as it could develop a legitimate discourse capable of detaching the group from its elements, along with security expertise and an understanding of the Islamic State’s operational mechanisms, especially since it has not conducted any real operations in areas previously controlled by Tahrir al-Sham.

The ability to evaluate this alliance needs time and testing in the field, with the possibility that these steps could significantly prevent them from utilizing Syrian territories to launch operations within them or using Syria for external operations, according to researcher Ammar Farhoud.

French President Emmanuel Macron called, on February 13, for the new authorities in Syria to consider partnership with the International Coalition based in Iraq to combat the Islamic State group in order to prevent destabilizing Syria during its transitional period.

In his closing remarks at the international conference on Syria held in Paris, Macron stated that the primary objective is security and ensuring that Syria does not turn once again into a logistical platform for militias linked to Iran that participate through their agenda in destabilizing regional stability.

He added, “If Syria agrees to a cooperation proposal, France will view it not only favorably but also with commitment,” expressing France’s readiness to engage in joint actions that respect Syrian sovereignty to combat terrorist groups, while emphasizing the need to continue to fight “terrorist organizations” that spread chaos in Syria and seek to export it, underscoring that fighting the Islamic State and all terrorist groups is an “absolute priority.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also called on the Syrian government to join the anti-Islamic State coalition during a press conference in Damascus attended by Enab Baladi.

The Islamic State group has sleeper cells within Syria, a matter that Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra did not deny in a televised interview with the al-Araby channel on January 21, when he spoke about the existing threat from the Islamic State group and efforts to combat it by the Ministry of Defense and the Syrian security apparatus.

Earlier, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (the current political and military authority in Syria) constantly announced the detention of leaders in areas under its influence in northwestern Syria, where the Idlib prisons that were under the authority of Tahrir al-Sham contained many leaders of the Islamic State group.