In the early hours of August 29, SDF and Coalition forces sprung into action as long-held fears became a reality. Several ISIS foreign fighters had escaped from custody, and were loose in the region around Raqqa, the Caliphate’s former capital. The SDF quickly managed to recapture two of them, but three remain at large. These five fighters, who hail from Libya, Russia, and Afghanistan, are part of the most dangerous threat that continues to plague Syria, the wider region, and international community. Nine thousand ISIS fighters, two thousand of whom are foreigners, remain in underfunded, makeshift prisons, managed by US-backed SDF and Internal Security Forces. Despite constant warnings from prominent members of Congress, General Kurilla and his predecessors in US Central Command, and SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi, this enormous issue continues to largely be ignored by the international community, over five years after the territorial defeat of ISIS in Baghuz.
ISIS cells detained by SDF personnel
Following these events, the SDF and Coalition managed to hunt down and capture the primary facilitator of the escape attempt, Khaled Ahmed al-Dandal, a facilitator of the organization who was assessed to have been aiding detained terrorists. This operation represents one of numerous that the SDF and US-led Coalition forces conduct regularly against ISIS, which has greatly increased its activities in the past year. In July, US Central Command stated that ISIS was “on pace to more than double” the number of attacks it carried out in 2023.
The SDF released statistics regarding anti-ISIS operations in August, revealing that 34 ISIS members were captured and five killed throughout the region, from Qamishli to Deir-ez-Zor. One of the killed terrorists was assessed to have been involved in the planning and execution of the January 2022 Hasakah Prison Attack.