Rollup: Coalition Counter-ISIS Operations in Iraq and Syria so far in 2024
The Global Coalition against Daesh has reported that 94 operations have been conducted against ISIS in Iraq in Syria so far this year, resulting in the deaths of 23 militants and the arrests of over 60 others.
IRAQ:
The Coalition has reported that since the start of the year, Iraqi security forces have carried out 66 counter-ISIS operations, which killed 16 militants and resulted in the arrests of 36 others.
The key operations:
January 7: Airstrike operations carried out by Iraqi F-16 fighters in Al-Ghbah, Diyala province, killed at least four militants, including a local cell leader.
A statement by the Iraqi Security Media Cell said that “The combined efforts of the security and intelligence services had a significant influence on eliminating Daesh gangs who would not be safe in Iraq, the land that gave birth to heroes who know only victory.”
February: Two militants killed during counter-terrorism operations in Al-Nu’aimiyah, Fallujah.
February 24: The Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) announced that two prominent members of the Islamic State involved in operations in Fallujah, identified as Issam Abd Ali Saedan and Bashir Abdul Ali Saedan, where captured during an operation outside of Iraq in an unspecified country.
March 10: Iraqi operations in the Wadi Al-Tharthar desert kill 10 militants in a third iteration of Operation “Promise of Truth,” which also resulted in the destruction of 14 militant hideouts.
April 16: Counter-terrorism operations in Salah al-Din Governorate, north of Baghdad, resulted in five militants killed.
Note: This operation was not included in the Coalition’s report.
SYRIA:
The Coalition has reported that since the start of the year, Kurdish security forces in Syria have carried out 28 counter-ISIS operations, which killed 7 militants and resulted in the arrests of 27 others.
The key operations:
January 7: Local ISIS leader Muhammed Atiyah was killed during a raid by Kurdish YAT operators in the town of al-Jurzy, Deir Ezzor.
February 25: Operations in al-Hasakah result in the arrests of 16 “ISIS operatives and facilitators who were involved in carrying out terrorist attacks against our forces, and those who provided facilitation and support to ISIS cells in executing these terrorist acts.”
March 24: ISIS financier Sameer al-Shihan was killed during a Kurdish YAT raid in Raqqa.
ISIS TRENDS:
According to BBC Monitoring, attacks claimed by the Islamic State and its affiliated terror groups decreased substantially from 1,811 in 2022 to 838 in 2023, marking a 53 percent drop. In Iraq and Syria, ISIS claimed a total of 253 attacks in 2023, down from 693 last year, marking a 63 percent drop for the region.
Despite the drop in attacks, ISIS remains a threat to regional security through terror cell activity, which often carry out targeted attacks and assassinations against Iraqi and Kurdish security forces. In Syria specifically, the al-Hol ISIS detention camp continues to be a point of concern amid fears of a jailbreak to the likes of the one seen al-Sina’a prison in 2022.
Source » theatlasnews.co
