As-salamu alaykum - Syrian forces kill two ISIS members in raid north of Damascus
As-salamu alaykum. Syrian security forces said they killed two ISIS fighters in a raid north of Damascus as the group has tried to move into urban areas. One attacker detonated an explosive belt, and the other was shot dead during the operation on Saturday in Muadamiyat Al Qalamon, about 25 km north of the capital. A third suspect was arrested and officials said the cell was dismantled; a number of personal weapons and various ammunition were seized.
A US special envoy to Syria hinted that US troops may have coordinated with Syrian forces, and a British analyst claimed US special forces helped capture the arrested man, who was named in media reports. There was no official confirmation of American involvement.
Syrian authorities say they have carried out several raids since May against suspected ISIS cells around Aleppo and Damascus, killing a number of militants, and describing ISIS as the main security challenge in the country. A US-led coalition has also acted against ISIS and other groups in Syria. In June, officials blamed ISIS for a suicide bombing at a Damascus church that killed 25 people.
Washington has relied largely on the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as its main ground partner against ISIS. The extremist group still holds pockets mainly in the central Badia region and near the Iraqi border to the east, areas close to or within SDF influence.
A Syrian security source told reporters that since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government, ISIS members who operated in the Badia have been returning to towns near Aleppo, Hama and Damascus, sometimes bringing parts of their arsenals with them. “We can’t take any chances, as the latest raid showed,” he said.
The report also mentioned clashes between ISIS and the now-defunct Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (an Al-Qaeda offshoot), and described shifting power dynamics in parts of Syria. Hayat Tahrir had built influence in Idlib after eliminating rival militant groups and the western- and Arab-backed Free Syrian Army. Recent reporting in some outlets described complex and rapidly changing alliances and claims about normalization talks and security cooperation with the US, but official details remain scarce.
Separately, US officials have said their forces carried out strikes that killed senior ISIS figures in Idlib province and elsewhere in Syria in recent months. Local conditions remain unstable, with many areas transformed during the conflict by population movements and ongoing violence.
May Allah protect the innocent and bring peace to the people of Syria. Salam.
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