ISIS Declares New Campaign Against Syrian Government After Twin Attacks

The Islamic State has taken credit for two separate assaults on Syrian military personnel in northern and eastern Syria on Saturday. The terror organization announced this marks the beginning of an intensified campaign against Syria's current leadership under President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The Islamic State has announced what it calls an escalated campaign against Syrian government forces after claiming responsibility for dual attacks that left military personnel dead on Saturday.

According to the terror group’s Dabiq media outlet, militants used a handgun to target “an individual of the apostate Syrian regime” in Mayadin, located in Deir al-Zor province, while separately attacking two other government personnel with automatic weapons in the northern city of Raqqa.

Syria’s Defense Ministry confirmed in an official statement that one army soldier and one civilian lost their lives Saturday in attacks carried out by “unknown assailants.” A military source speaking to Reuters identified the fallen soldier as a member of the army’s 42nd Division.

These violent incidents occur as ISIS has dramatically increased attacks against Syria’s government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who previously commanded al Qaeda forces before splitting from that organization in 2016 and ultimately spearheading the Islamist coalition that toppled President Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.

In a recorded message released Saturday evening, ISIS spokesman Abu Hudhayfa al-Ansari declared that Syria had “moved from Iranian occupation to Turkish-American occupation.”

The terrorist organization proclaimed it had launched a “new phase of operations” within Syria, labeling Sharaa as a “watchdog” of the international coalition and threatening that his destiny would mirror Assad’s downfall.

During his November visit to the United States, where he met with President Donald Trump, Sharaa formalized Syria’s participation in the global coalition fighting ISIS.

Saturday’s violence follows another ISIS attack just two days earlier in Deir al-Zor that claimed the life of an Interior Ministry internal security officer and left another wounded.

Pro-ISIS social media accounts and messaging channels have recently urged supporters to intensify attacks using motorcycles and small arms.

Since Assad’s government collapsed, ISIS has conducted six separate attacks against Syrian government forces.

A United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism report published last week revealed that ISIS has attempted to assassinate Sharaa and two top cabinet officials on five separate occasions, though all plots were unsuccessful.