The United States military says ISIL (ISIS) is trying “to reconstitute” as the number of its attacks in Syria and Iraq is on track to double that of the previous year.
The armed group has already claimed 153 attacks in both countries in the first six months of 2024, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Wednesday.
“The increase in attacks indicates [ISIL] is attempting to reconstitute following several years of decreased capability,” it said.
It has been more than a decade since ISIL, then led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, advanced through swaths of Iraq and Syria with the goal of creating a self-declared “caliphate”. At its peak in 2014, its fighters controlled one-third of Iraq and Syria.
While the group lost its grip on the territory after campaigns by US-backed forces, some fighters remain in hiding, mainly in remote areas, from where they continue to carry out attacks. In 2019, US special forces killed al-Baghdadi in a raid in Idlib, northwestern Syria.
CENTCOM said along with Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) 196 missions were conducted that resulted in the deaths of 44 ISIL operatives, with 166 arrested between January and June this year.
Domestic tensions
A coalition of more than 80 countries led by the US was formed to fight ISIL, and CENTCOM said “the continued pursuit of the approximately 2,500 ISIS fighters at large across Iraq and Syria is a critical component to the enduring defeat” of the group.
General Michael Erik Kurilla, the commander of CENTCOM, said the focus was also on targeting the group’s members “who are seeking to conduct external operations outside of Iraq and Syria”.
Iraqi officials said they could keep the threat from the group under control with their forces and have entered into talks with the US aimed at winding down the mission of the US-led military coalition in Iraq.
These discussions come during increased domestic tensions over the US military presence in the region.
From October to February, an umbrella group of Iran-aligned groups – called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq – launched regular drone attacks on bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria.
Islamic Resistance said its attacks were in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in the ongoing war on Gaza and were aimed at forcing US forces to withdraw from Iraq.
Those attacks largely halted after three US soldiers were killed in a strike on a base in Jordan, near the Syrian border, in late January, prompting US strikes in Iraq.
