Iraqi army forces during searches in Makhoul Mountains (Facebook page of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, December 3, 2020). the of the Iraqi army
Main events of the week
- Routine attacks continued in ISIS’s various provinces in Iraq, Syria and throughout Africa and Asia. Noteworthy examples:
- Iraq: ISIS operatives continued their attacks, in the form of activating IEDs, sniper fire, targeted killings, and attacks on the Iraqi security forces and their facilities. It should be noted that a shooting attack was carried out against the headquarters of Kataeb Hezbollah, a Shiite militia operating as a proxy of Iran, about 40 km south of Baghdad (a Shiite area where ISIS seldom operates).
- Syria: ISIS’s guerrilla attacks continued in the Euphrates Valley and in the desert region of eastern Syria, mainly in the form of activating IEDs, targeted killings, and firing light weapons at vehicles. Noteworthy examples include exchanges of fire in the desert region, in which dozens of ISIS operatives and Syrian soldiers were reportedly killed. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Russian fighter jets carried out intensive airstrikes against ISIS operatives along the roads in the desert region. In the Daraa region in southern Syria, ISIS reported that its operatives had killed a Syrian Military Intelligence “agent.”
- Nigeria: ISIS reported that its operatives had repelled a Nigerian army attack in the northeast of the country. According to the report, seven Nigerian soldiers were killed and one was taken prisoner. In addition, ISIS’s routine attacks continued (ambushes, attacking checkpoints, and firing mortar shells).
- The Philippines: Dozens of ISIS-affiliated armed operatives reportedly attacked a police station, city hall, a Catholic church and a Philippine army post on the island of Mindanao, in the southern Philippines. No organization has claimed responsibility for the attack. On the other hand, the Philippine army accepted the surrender of dozens of operatives of the ISIS-affiliated Abu Sayyaf organization on the island of Sulu in the southern Philippines.
The Syrian arena
The Idlib region
In the Idlib region, exchanges of artillery fire continued between the Syrian army and the forces supporting it, and the rebel organizations.
ISIS’s activity in Syria[1]
The region of Deir ez-Zor and Al-Mayadeen
- On December 8, 2020, ISIS operatives broke into the house of an SDF intelligence operative about 9 km north of Al-Mayadeen. He was shot to death.
- On December 7, 2020, ISIS operatives broke into the house of an SDF fighter about 23 km northeast of Al-Mayadeen. He was shot to death.
- On December 6, 2020, an SDF vehicle was targeted by machine gun fire about 8 km southeast of Al-Mayadeen. Two fighters were killed and another was wounded.
- On December 6, 2020, an IED was activated against an SDF APC about 5 km east of Al-Mayadeen. Two fighters were killed and two others were wounded.
- On December 5, 2020, an SDF commander was captured by ISIS about 23 km northeast of Al-Mayadeen. He was shot to death.
- On December 4, 2020, an intelligence “agent” working for the International Coalition was captured by ISIS in the village of Shahil, about 10 km north of Al-Mayadeen. He was shot to death
The desert region (Al-Badia)
- On December 6, 2020, an IED was activated against a Syrian army vehicle west of Palmyra. The passengers were killed or wounded.
- On December 2-4, 2020, there were exchanges of fire between ISIS and the Syrian army and the forces supporting it. A total of 22 ISIS operatives and 19 soldiers and fighters of the Syrian army and the forces supporting it were killed. Russian fighter jets carried out more than 100 airstrikes on roads in the Syrian Desert (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, December 4, 2020). On December 4, 2020, an IED was activated against a Syrian army vehicle east of Hama. The passengers were killed or wounded.
Southern Syria
Daraa region
- On December 5, 2020, a Syrian Military Intelligence “agent” was targeted by machine gun fire on the road between the villages of Saida and Al-Gharia al-Sharqiya, near Daraa. He was killed.
The Iraqi arena
Provinces of Iraq (Wikipedia)
ISIS attacks in the various provinces[2]
Diyala Province
- On December 5, 2020, Iraqi soldiers were targeted by sniper fire west of Khanaqin, about 100 km northeast of Baqubah. An officer and a soldier were killed, and two other soldiers were wounded.
- On December 3, 2020, a Popular Mobilization force was targeted by sniper fire in a suburb of Al-Miqdadiya, about 40 km northeast of Baqubah. Six Popular Mobilization fighters were killed and another was wounded. When another force arrived at the scene to provide assistance, it was targeted by gunfire and an IED was activated against it. As a result, four Popular Mobilization fighters were killed and nine others were wounded.
- On December 3, 2020, Popular Mobilization fighters were targeted by sniper fire west of Khanaqin, about 100 km northeast of Baqubah. Two fighters were wounded.
- On December 3, 2020, an IED was activated against an Iraqi police vehicle about 15 km north of Baqubah. Three officers and a policeman were wounded.
- On December 2, 2020, an Iraqi soldier was targeted by sniper fire about 60 km north of Baqubah. He was killed.
Salah al-Din Province
- On December 4, 2020, ISIS operatives captured two intelligence operatives of the Iraqi National Security Apparatus northwest of Tikrit. They were shot to death.
- On December 3, 2020, ISIS operatives fired machine guns at Iraqi soldiers about 30 km north of Baghdad. One soldier was killed and two others were wounded.
Kirkuk Province
- On December 6, 2020, ISIS operatives raided an Iraqi police compound on the Kirkuk-Tikrit road. One policeman was killed and four others were wounded.
- On December 3, 2020, an Iraqi soldier was targeted by sniper fire about 4 km west of Kirkuk. He was killed.
- On December 1, 2020, Iraqi soldiers were targeted by machine gun fire west of the city of Tuz Khormato, about 70 km south of Kirkuk. One soldier was killed and another was wounded.
Babel Province
- On December 7, 2020, a headquarters of Kataeb Hezbollah (a Shiite militia serving as an Iranian proxy) was targeted by machine gun fire about 40 km south of Baghdad. One fighter was wounded. The headquarters was damaged.
Al-Anbar Province
- On December 5, 2020, ISIS operatives captured a Shiite resident about 6 km southwest of Baghdad. He was shot to death.
Counterterrorism activities by the Iraqi security forces
Salah al-Din Province
- On December 7, 2020, the security forces captured two ISIS operatives who took part in the massacre at Camp Speicher, near Tikrit, in 2014 (Al-Sumaria, December 7, 2020). As will be recalled, on June 12, 2014, ISIS operatives massacred 1,566 Shiite Iraqi Air Force cadets in an attack on Camp Speicher.
The detainees at the hands of the Counterterrorism Unit
(Facebook page of Iraqi Army Spokesman Yahya al-Rasoul, December 7, 2020)
- On December 6, 2020, an International Coalition aircraft carried out an airstrike about 60 km north of Baghdad. Five “terrorist operatives” (implicitly, ISIS operatives) were killed (Al-Sumaria, December 6, 2020).
- On December 3, 2020, Iraqi army forces carrying out searches in Makhoul Mountains, about 20 km north of Baiji, located eight bodies of ISIS operatives and captured a wounded ISIS operative. The eight operatives were killed in Coalition airstrikes (Facebook page of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, December 3, 2020).
Al-Anbar Province
- On December 7, 2020, a force of the Iraqi Counterterrorism Unit captured a senior ISIS commander who at one time had served as ISIS’s deputy governor of Iraq (Facebook page of Iraqi Army Spokesman Yahya al-Rasoul, December 7, 2020).
Counterterrorism Unit fighters detaining an ISIS operative who had served as ISIS’s deputy governor of Iraqi (Facebook page of Iraqi Army Spokesman Yahya al-Rasoul, December 7, 2020)
- On December 3, 2020, an Iraqi army force located an ISIS weapons depot about 30 km northwest of Baghdad. The depot contained 11 IEDs, explosive equipment, and a self-manufactured rocket launcher (Facebook page of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, December 3, 2020).
Right: IEDs consisting of 20-liter canisters filled with C4 plastic explosives, found by the Iraqi army (Facebook page of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, December 3, 2020). Left: Two IEDs consisting of metal plates, found by the Iraqi army (Facebook page of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, December 3, 2020)
Kirkuk Province
- On December 3, 2020, teams of the Iraqi National Security Apparatus captured four wanted ISIS operatives. One of them was caught hiding among the displaced families in the Laylan displaced persons camp, about 10 km southeast of Kirkuk. The other operative belonged to the Caliphate Cubs, ISIS’s youth organization (Al-Sumaria, December 3, 2020).
- On December 3, 2020, Iraqi police teams captured a wanted ISIS operative who had been in charge of moving ISIS operatives from one place to another, about 30 km south of Kirkuk (Al-Sumaria, December 3, 2020).
The Sinai Peninsula
ISIS’s activity in northern Sinai[3]
- On December 7, 2020, an Egyptian soldier was killed by sniper fire in a village north of Sheikh Zuweid.
- On December 4, 2020, an Egyptian soldier was killed by sniper fire east of Sheikh Zuweid.
- On December 2, 2020, an Egyptian soldier was killed by sniper fire south of the anti-aircraft battalion camp in the Bir al-Abd region.
- On December 1, 2020, an Egyptian army bulldozer was hit and destroyed (apparently by an IED) near a roadblock in southern Rafah.
Egyptian security forces’ activity
- According to Arab media reports, the Egyptian army forces began preparations to remove the debris of houses which had been demolished in the city of Rafah in recent years. This activity takes place as part of the establishment of a buffer zone of sorts on the border between the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. A source close to Egyptian Intelligence expects the removal of the debris to cause a flare-up in the Rafah region, as part of the struggle with ISIS’s Sinai Province.
- According to tribal sources, confrontations occur almost daily between ISIS’s Sinai Province and the Egyptian army in the village of Muqata’ah, south of Rafah, and in several areas west of Rafah. The army continues its attempts to take over the village, which is one of ISIS’s main areas of activity in the Rafah region (Al-Araby al-Jadeed, December 6, 2020).