Fierce clashes occurred between units of the Syrian Arab Army and cells affiliated with the “ISIS” organization (a terrorist organization banned in Russia and many countries). A correspondent from “Sputnik” in Homs province reported: “In the context of the wide-ranging combing operations carried out by the Syrian army east of the city of Palmyra in the eastern Homs desert, a number of headquarters belonging to the ISIS organization were found, containing weapons, ammunition, military, and logistical equipment.”
The correspondent continued: “After expanding the search operations in the vicinity of those headquarters, an armed group belonging to the organization was discovered.
The scene immediately shifted to intense, fierce clashes between the two sides.” The correspondent confirmed: “The soldiers of the Syrian army managed to eliminate 9 militants from the terrorists of the organization, and destroyed 3 of their four-wheel drive vehicles. Meanwhile, the remaining militants of the group fled towards the depth of the ’55 km’ area, north of the Al-Tanf base, which is illegitimately used by the U.S. Army as a base in the far eastern countryside of Homs.”
The correspondent added: “Recently, the Syrian army has brought significant military reinforcements to the axis of the Palmyra and Sukhnah deserts in the eastern countryside of Homs, following the active movements of ISIS cells in those areas.”
The Syrian army is seeking to comb the largest geographical areas in the desert to expand the security perimeter around the main international roads that connect western Syria with its east and then with Iraqi territory, which the organization aims to attack.
The terrorist organization’s attacks have escalated exceptionally recently, coinciding with the exposure of illegal U.S. bases in eastern Syria to a series of repeated attacks via missiles and drones.”
The presence of ISIS in Syria has undergone significant transformations in recent years. As of 2024, the group has lost much of its territorial control but remains active through sleeper cells and guerrilla-style attacks across the country.
The U.S. National Counterterrorism Center reported in August that the threat posed by Islamic State and Al Qaeda is at a low point, but cautioned that half of Islamic State’s branches are active in insurgencies across Africa and may be expanding. In the Middle East, however, ISIS attacks have declined significantly, with a notable loss of leadership and senior operatives in Iraq and Syria contributing to this decrease.
In northeastern Syria, the situation remains precarious. The Syrian regime and its Iranian partners have been working to undermine the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) control in the region. Regime-backed sleeper cells maintain weapons depots and conduct hit-and-run attacks targeting SDF and local officials. There are concerns that the regime might permit ISIS to expand to support its own objectives, as it has historically facilitated the movement of foreign fighters and released jihadists to cast the Syrian uprising as a terrorist threat
