The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that ISIS has resumed expanding its activities in Syria, while Syrian authorities and French militants reached a ceasefire agreement to end clashes that erupted Wednesday in northwest Syria.
The article noted that ISIS militants have conducted over 117 attacks since the beginning of this year across various regions of Syria, compared to 73 attacks in 2024.
The decline in U.S. presence in northern and eastern Syria has allegedly provided the militants with an opportunity to reorganize, which has diminished the international coalition’s ability to monitor the desert and the Syrian-Iraqi borders, an area that has seen an uptick in the activities of ISIS cells.
According to the report, several factors contribute to the resurgence of ISIS, including a prevailing security vacuum and the transitional government’s inability to assert control across the entire desert area. This situation has created vast spaces that allow militants to operate freely, relying on local financial networks and external support through intermediaries.
Estimates cited in the report suggest that the number of ISIS militants in Syria ranges between 2,500 and 3,000, with most of them located in the desert and Deir ez-Zor region.
The report warns that the increase in activity poses a threat that extends beyond Syrian borders, amidst Western concerns about Syria potentially becoming a base for external operations for extremist groups, particularly ISIS.
French Militants
Meanwhile, Syrian authorities and French militants have come to an agreement to halt the skirmishes that began Wednesday in the northwestern part of the country, according to sources from both sides.
The terms of the agreement include a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the vicinity of the Harim camp in Idlib province, where French fighters led by Omar Diaby, known as Omar Omsen, are entrenched. Diaby, a French national of Senegalese descent, is wanted for kidnapping and refuses to surrender to authorities.
An anonymous security source in Idlib told AFP, “An agreement was reached and the terms have been implemented,” leading to a “ceasefire between the parties and the withdrawal of heavy government weaponry, as well as opening the camp to the Syrian government.”
The agreement also addresses the issue of the kidnapping case by referring it to the Ministry of Justice, and assigns three foreign fighters from Central Asia to oversee Diaby’s case within the legal system.
Two security sources in Idlib and another from the militants confirmed that the ceasefire is currently in effect.
Gibril, Diaby’s son, confirmed through WhatsApp that the agreement has been made, affirming the validity of its terms. This marks the first confrontation announced by the new authorities against foreign militants since the ousting of former president Bashar al-Assad.