US Rushes To Contain Resurgence Of Islamic State In Syria

U.S. forces are rushing to subdue a resurgence of the Islamic State in Syria, several U.S. and allied officials told The Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. largely defeated the Islamic State in Syria alongside the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in 2019 through a coordinated global military effort to remove the terrorist group from the area. But the terrorist group is now expanding its forces and launching attacks on allied troops at high levels, and U.S. and SDF forces are quickly working to break apart the group before it becomes too dangerous a threat, officials told the WSJ.

“This year has been the worst year since we defeated Islamic State,” Gen. Rohilat Afrin, co-commander of the SDF, told the WSJ, speaking from a U.S. base in Syria. “No matter how much you knock them down, they’ll try to get up again.”

Islamic State is recruiting new militants — eventually destined to become suicide bombers — and making efforts to free thousands of imprisoned fighters, according to the WSJ. The terrorist group has already claimed responsibility for over 153 attacks in Syria and Iraq in just the first half of 2024.

As of July 2023, there had been 181 attacks claimed by the Islamic State in Syria that year, according to The Council on Foreign Relations.

“What we’re seeing is the movement of men, weapons and equipment,” a U.S. Special Forces officer based in Syria told the WSJ.

Approximately 233 suspected Islamic State terrorists have been captured by SDF forces in the first seven months of 2024, according to the WSJ. In coordination with the U.S., SDF forces routinely carry out raids in areas where suspected Islamic State cells are based.

U.S. forces carried out four airstrikes in 2023 and assisted in 50 other strikes against the Islamic State since the beginning of last year, according to the WSJ. The U.S. also offers intelligence and surveillance data to the SDF to aid in raids and attacks.

Though the U.S. usually refrains from getting directly involved in fighting, forces will occasionally kill or capture Islamic State leaders, according to the WSJ. There are currently over 3,000 U.S. civilian and military forces between Syria and Iraq.

Iraqi leaders are urging the U.S. to withdraw its resources from their country completely, according to the WSJ. Diplomatic talks between the U.S. and Iraq last month did not result in a withdrawal agreement, but U.S. officials were left concerned that the prospect was even being brought up.

“We’ll see chaos like we’ve never seen before,” Brig. Gen. Ali al-Hassan, spokesman for the U.S. forces in northern Syria, told the WSJ. “Any withdrawal will cause the immediate activation of sleeper cells.”

U.S. forces have recently been in conflict with a variety of terrorist groups throughout the Middle East, some of which consider each other enemies but all of whom have been hostile to the West. Tensions dramatically escalated after Oct. 7, the date Hamas invaded Israel and killed roughly 1,200, sparking a regional war and engulfing Western and terror-affiliated forces.

There have been over 170 attacks against U.S. and allied forces in Syria, Iraq and Jordan since Oct. 7, according to The Intercept.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.