ISIS is once again active in Syria. There has been a recent surge in ISIS attacks, including attacks on Syrian troops – the soldiers of Bashar al-Assad – in the desert. In the first three months of 2023, ISIS in Syria killed 84 Syrian soldiers and 44 civilians. In March 2024, there were a total of 69 ISIS attacks. The number of attacks has continued to rise since mid-2023, as well as encouraged by regional events since October. ISIS sleeper cells have been waking up all over Syria. If they stage an attack on al-Hol prison, the world could see ISIS once again try to rebuild its “caliphate.”

In August 2023, ISIS killed 33 Syrian soldiers in the desert near Mayadeen in Deir Ez-Zor province. 10 pro-government militiamen were killed in Raqqa, the former capital of the ISIS occupation. In November 2023, an ISIS attack on Syrian troops stationed in the desert near Raqqa, killed 30 Syrian soldiers. In January, an attack in the Homs province of Syria killed 14 Syrian soldiers. In February, two separate ISIS attacks killed 11 Syrian soldiers. In March, the terror group launched a new effort, staging 69 attacks through the month. In addition, ISIS attacks targeted the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls northeast Syria, staging three attacks just in week from March 7 and March 15, according to the Rojava Information Center.

General Frank McKenzie, the former head of US Central Command, has recently emphasized that ISIS remains a significant threat to the West, stating that ISIS has a “strong desire” to attack the United States and saying, “I think the threat is growing.”

The World is One ISIS Prison Break from an ISIS Resurgence

ISIS once boasted a force of roughly 50,000 troops, seizing territory throughout Iraq and Syria and claiming a resurrection of the Islamic “caliphate” from 2013 through 2015. This prompted the US government under US President Barack Obama to partner with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the democratic forces controlling northeast Syria, as well as other partners in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. US President Donald Trump declared victory over ISIS in March 2019 as the final ISIS stronghold was defeated by the SDF, with air power and support from the US military and coalition forces.

ISIS did not, however, disappear. Over 12,000 ISIS fighters and roughly 63,000 ISIS families, workers, and personnel were brought to Al-Hol detention facility, a blend of hard detention buildings as well as a massive, sprawling camp that is loosely contained and surveilled. Resources for the detainees are thin, but the SDF provides food, water, sanitation, tents, bedding, healthcare, and all other elements of humane detention. As many of these detainees are from faraway countries, many family members have been repatriated. The number of detainees today is roughly 9,000 fighters and about 40,000 non-fighter detainees.

ISIS members remain together, eating, praying, and planning the return of their “caliphate.” ISIS extremist mothers and families raise their sons and daughters steeped in extremism, with little intervention from the outside world. 

The world remains one prison break away from an ISIS resurgence. Several prison break attempts have been staged, including a massive break in 2022 in which 1,000 ISIS fighters flooded into the nearby town, killing over 150 SDF personnel and civilians, some of whom were beheaded. Only 900 of the 1,000 were recaptured. About 100 of these battle-hardened ISIS fighters escaped.

When Sleeper Cells Wake Up, the World Suffers

Now, with a deadly resurgence in ISIS terror attacks, it is clear that the sleeper cells are waking up. As they do, they will continue to cause suffering. Al Hol camp is a catastrophe waiting to happen. It is only a matter of time before ISIS turns their sights, and their weapons, to freeing the 9,000 battle-hardened fighters living in the detention facility, not to mention their families, including the children and teenagers who have come of age in the extremist environment of the camp. Is the international community ready to once again face the black tides of ISIS extremists waging battle, committing atrocities, and trying to rebuild their “caliphate”?

Image Source: Syrian Observatory for Human Rights