MESOPOTAMIA NEWS INTEL BY MEIR AMIT INTEL & TERRORISM INFORMATION CENTER / ISRAEL – Spotlight on Global Jihad (July 16-22, 2020)

Published:

Building destroyed in a Russian airstrike (Ibaa, July 16, 2020).

Building destroyed in a Russian airstrike (Ibaa, July 16, 2020).

Overview

  • The ceasefire is being maintained in the Idlib region of northern Syria, apart from isolated incidents between the warring sides. This week, an outbreak of COVID-19 was reported in the Idlib region. The Salvation Government, affiliated with the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham, reported that there are 14 active cases. The number of cases may be much higher and there is great potential for the spread of morbidity in the Idlib region. This is due to the presence of many deportees, substandard living conditions, poor sanitation, and the lack of a functioning health system.
  • The main terrorist attack in Syria was a car bomb explosion near the Syrian-Turkish border crossing. Nine people were killed and over 60 were wounded. In the ITIC’s assessment, ISIS was behind the attack. In recent weeks, ISIS has carried out a series of attacks north of Aleppo against the Turkish army and its sponsored rebel organizations. On the other hand, the Turkish authorities made a series of arrests of ISIS operatives near the Syrian border and detained dozens of people suspected of belonging to ISIS in Istanbul. At the propaganda level, an article in ISIS’s Al-Naba’ weekly (July 16, 2020) sharply attacked Turkish President Erdoğan (“tyrant,” “deserter of Islam”) and claimed that no importance should be attached to Aya Sophia being turned into a mosque.
  • In the Iraq Province, low-intensity activity took place this week. The most noteworthy attack was the killing of an Iraqi army brigade commander and his escorts in an ISIS ambush about 30 km north of Baghdad.
  • In the Sinai Peninsula, a large-scale combined attack was carried out against an Egyptian army camp and checkpoint west of Bir al-Abd. It appears to have been carried out by ISIS, which has not yet claimed responsibility (and the Egyptian army has not yet released an official report on the attack). The attack involved car bombs, IEDs, and possibly also the use of suicide bombers. According to initial media reports, the attack was carried out by dozens of operatives, who arrived in vehicles and on motorcycles. Initial reports of the number of fatalities in the attack are contradictory, but dozens of Egyptian soldiers and ISIS operatives were apparently killed.
  • This combined attack indicates that ISIS operatives in the Sinai Peninsula are growing more daring, in light of the waning pressure by the Egyptian security forces and the shift in Egyptian attention to developments in Libya and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. In the ITIC’s assessment, ISIS may take advantage of this situation to increase its attacks against the Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.
ISIS’s activity in the various provinces
  • On July 16, 2020, ISIS’s Al-Naba’ weekly released an infographic entitled “The Harvest of the Fighters,” summing up its activity in the various provinces on July 9-15, 2020. A total of 38 attacks were carried out by ISIS around the world, compared to 56 in the preceding week (meaning a decrease of about 32%). A total of 23 attacks were carried out in Iraq, most of them (9) in the Diyala Province; seven in Syria; six in West Africa (mainly Chad and Nigeria); one in Pakistan and one in the Sinai Peninsula.
  • Over 170 people were killed and wounded in the attacks, compared to over 150 people in the preceding week (an increase of about 11%). The largest number of casualties (90) was again in West Africa, where the armies of Nigeria and Chad sustained many casualties. The other casualties were in the provinces of Iraq (63), Syria (17), Pakistan (2), and Sinai (1) (Al-Naba’ weekly, as posted on archive.org, July 16, 2020).
Jihadi organizations’ activity in Syria
Idlib region
Incidents of the past week
  • On July 19, 2020, the Syrian army fired artillery at the northern Al-Ghab Plain (40 km southwest of Idlib). One civilian was killed (Idlib Plus, July 19, 2020).
  • On July 16, 2020, the Syrian army fired artillery at a village about 25 km south of Idlib and at Jabal Zawiya (Edlib Media Center – EMC, July 16, 2020).
  • On July 16, 2020, the Syrian army fired artillery at the town of Sarmin, about 7 km east of Idlib (Edlib Media Center – EMC, July 16, 2020).
Russian airstrikes
  • On July 16, 2020, Russian aircraft carried out airstrikes in a village about 25 km south of Idlib and in Jabal Zawiya (Ibaa, July 16, 2020).
Building destroyed in a Russian airstrike (Ibaa, July 16, 2020).      Building destroyed in a Russian airstrike (Ibaa, July 16, 2020).
Building destroyed in a Russian airstrike (Ibaa, July 16, 2020).
COVID-19 outbreak in the Idlib region
  • On July 9, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in the Idlib region was reported. By July 18, 2020, the number of active cases in the region had risen to 14. The morbidity figures were published on behalf of the “health minister” in the Salvation Government, a body that manages civilian affairs in the Idlib region, which is controlled by the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham (Ibaa, July 18, 2020)[1].
  • It can be assumed that the actual number of cases in the Idlib area could be much higher. This is due to the lack of an orderly testing system, a functioning healthcare system, and effective enforcement mechanisms. In addition, the morbidity reports are from the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham and the institution under its control, and not from the Syrian Health Ministry[2]. In the ITIC’s assessment, the source of infection in the Idlib Governorate may be Turkey, since most of those infected are residents of towns in areas near the Turkish border. There is great potential for the spread of morbidity in the Idlib region due to the presence of many deportees and the substandard living conditions.
  • In the absence of effective government institutions, the fight against the spread of the virus in the Idlib region is carried out mainly by local councils and local voluntary organizations. For example, local councils in the Idlib Governorate handed out leaflets asking residents to close the weekly open-air markets (Enab Baladi, a news website affiliated with the rebel organizations, July 19, 2020). In addition, the Freedom Youth Union, a local youth organization, distributed masks and leaflets with instructions to the residents of the city of Idlib (Ibaa, July 18, 2020).
ISIS’s activity in Syria
The region of Deir ez-Zor, Al-Mayadeen, and Albukamal
  • On July 19, 2020, an SDF fighter was targeted by gunfire in the town of Hajin, about 25 km north of Albukamal. He was wounded (Telegram, July 20, 2020).
  • On July 18, 2020, an IED was activated against two SDF fighters riding a motorcycle about 7 km northeast of Albukamal. Both of them were wounded (Telegram, July 19, 2020).
  • On July 18, 2020, an SDF vehicle was targeted by machine gun fire about 5 km east of Al-Mayadeen. Two fighters were killed and others were wounded (Telegram, July 18, 2020).
  • On July 18, 2020, an SDF fighter was targeted by gunfire on the road leading to the Al-Omar oil field, about 5 km east of Al-Mayadeen. He was killed (Telegram, July 18, 2020).
Al-Raqqah region
  • On July 15, 2020, an IED was activated against a vehicle of an SDF “agent” about 1 km west of Al-Raqqah. The vehicle was damaged (Telegram, July 16, 2020).
The area north of Aleppo

Detonation of a car bomb near the Syrian-Turkish border

  • On July 19, 2020, a car bomb was detonated in the town of Sijju, near the Bab al-Salameh border crossing between Syria and Turkey (about 45 km north of Aleppo). Nine people were killed and over 60, including women and children, were wounded. The attack took place a few days after a series of arrests of ISIS operatives by Turkish intelligence in the region controlled by the rebel organizations affiliated with Turkey (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights; AP, July 19, 2020). So far, ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the detonation of the car bomb.

In the second half of June 2020, ISIS launched a series of attacks against the Turkish army and the rebel organizations affiliated with Turkey operating in the Al-Bab region (north of Aleppo). This reason for this activity may have been a targeted killing near the city of Al-Bab, in which two senior ISIS operatives were eliminated. ISIS’s attacks consisted mainly of targeted killings and detonation of IEDs. The detonation of the car bomb, if it turns out that ISIS is behind it, may therefore be a step up in ISIS’s anti-Turkish activity north of Aleppo.

  • On July 17, 2020, an “agent” of the Turkish-sponsored rebel organizations was targeted by gunfire in the city of A’zaz, about 40 km north of Aleppo (near the Syrian-Turkish border). He was killed (Telegram, July 18, 2020).
The Al-Sukhnah-Palmyra region (the Syrian Desert)
  • On July 21, 2020, ISIS operatives attacked Syrian army positions about 65 km northeast of Hama. There were exchanges of fire between the sides, including artillery fire. Both sides reportedly sustained casualties (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, July 21, 2020).
  • On July 18, 2020, ISIS operatives ambushed a convoy of Iranian-affiliated militias and operatives of the Lebanese Hezbollah near Al-Sukhnah (about 60 km northeast of Palmyra). The convoy was en route from Deir ez-Zor to Palmyra. An operative of the Iranian-backed Al-Baqer Militia was killed in the attack. Many of the convoy operatives were wounded (SY24, July 18, 2020). Following this incident, Russian fighter jets carried out airstrikes against ISIS in the Al-Sukhnah Desert (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, July 18, 2020).
  • Due to the recurring attacks by ISIS, Syrian army reinforcements were dispatched to the Al-Sukhnah-Palmyra area on July 19, 2020 (Al-Durar Al-Shamiya, July 19, 2020).
Counterterrorist activities by the SDF forces
  • On July 17, 2020, SDF forces launched the second phase of Operation Deterrence of Terrorism against ISIS in the Deir ez-Zor region. The SDF Counterterrorist Special Forces are taking part in this activity, in coordination with the International Coalition forces and with their air support (SDF Press, July 17, 2020). On June 4, 2020, the SDF forces launched Operation Deterrence of Terrorism in the region extending from south of Al-Hasakah to the Euphrates Valley (SDF Press, June 10, 2020).

SDF fighters during an anti-ISIS activity in the Deir ez-Zor region (SDF Press, July 19, 2020)
SDF fighters during an anti-ISIS activity in the Deir ez-Zor region
(SDF Press, July 19, 2020)

  • On July 20, 2020, the SDF forces announced that in the beginning of the second phase of Operation Deterrence of Terrorism, they had captured 31 “terrorist operatives” (implicitly ISIS operatives), including a senior ISIS operative. In addition, they seized weapons, explosives, and several ferries used for smuggling (SDF Press, July 20, 2020). According to a source based on the SDF report, the senior ISIS operative (emir) captured had been in charge of distributing salaries to members of ISIS networks in the rural area east of Deir ez-Zor (Al-Masdar News, July 20, 2020).
Releasing detainees from the Al-Hol camp
  • On July 20, 2020, a total of 450 ISIS detainees were released from the Al-Hol detention camp. Mostly of them were women and children from 115 families. The released detainees were sent in a convoy to the villages of Al-Susah and Al-Baghouz, former ISIS outposts in the Euphrates Valley and from there were allowed to return to their homes. They were released based on lists submitted by notables from Al-Susah and Al-Baghouz, in coordination with the public relations office in the Deir ez-Zor civil council operating under SDF sponsorship (EuphratesPost Facebook page, July 20, 2020).
ISIS’s activity in the Iraqi arena

Map of Iraqi provinces (Wikipedia)
Map of Iraqi provinces (Wikipedia)

This week, ISIS carried out low-intensity activity in the Iraqi arena. The most noteworthy attack was the killing of an Iraqi army brigade commander in an ISIS ambush about 30 km north of Baghdad. Concurrently with ISIS’s activity, COVID-19 is spreading in Iraq (nearly 28,000 active cases and 3,869 dead[3]).

Attacks for which ISIS claimed responsibility
Diyala Province
  • On July 20, 2020, an IED was activated against a foot patrol of the Popular Mobilization and Iraqi police about 15 km northeast of Baqubah. Two fighters or policemen and a sapper were wounded (Telegram, July 20, 2020).
  • On July 20, 2020, an IED was activated against Popular Mobilization fighters about 35 km northeast of Baqubah. One fighter was killed and six others were wounded (Telegram, July 20, 2020).
  • On July 19, 2020, ISIS operatives tricked an Iraqi army force into entering a booby-trapped house in a village about 40 km northeast of Baqubah. When the force approached the house, the ISIS operatives detonated an IED. One soldier was killed and another was wounded (Telegram, July 19, 2020).
  • On July 18, 2020, an Iraqi soldier was targeted by sniper fire about 60 km north of Baqubah. He was wounded (Telegram, July 19, 2020).
  • On July 15, 2020, Tribal Mobilization fighters were targeted by sniper fire about 20 km southwest of Khanaqin. One fighter was killed and four others were wounded (Telegram, July 16, 2020).
Salah al-Din Province
  • On July 20, 2020, Iraqi policemen were targeted by machine gun fire about 80 km north of Baghdad. Two policemen and two police officers were wounded (Telegram, July 21, 2020).
  • On July 19, 2020, an IED was activated against a Popular Mobilization vehicle west of Baiji. Two fighters were killed and two others were wounded (Telegram, July 21, 2020).
Iraqi brigade commander killed north of Baghdad
  • On July 17, 2020, the Baghdad Operations Headquarters announced that commander of the 59th Brigade of the 6th Infantry Division, Brigadier General Ali Hamid Ghaidan al-Khazraji, had been killed in a shooting attack by “terrorist operatives” (implicitly ISIS). The attack was carried out about 30 km north of Baghdad. According to another Iraqi report, the brigade commander was shot to death by ISIS snipers (Al-Sumaria, July 17, 2020; Iraqi News Agency, July 18, 2020).
  • ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. According to ISIS, its operatives ambushed a convoy at the entrance to the city of Al-Tarmiyah. Commander Ali al-Khazraji was in one of the vehicles. The brigade commander was killed, as well as three of his escorts. Other soldiers were wounded (Telegram, July 18, 2020).

59th Brigade Commander Brigadier General Ali Hamid Ghaidan al-Khazraji, killed in an ISIS attack (Twitter account supporting the Iraqi army, July 17, 2020)
59th Brigade Commander Brigadier General Ali Hamid Ghaidan al-Khazraji, killed in an ISIS attack (Twitter account supporting the Iraqi army, July 17, 2020)

  • On July 16, 2020, an IED was activated against a Popular Mobilization vehicle about 20 km south of Shirqat (about 90 km west of Kirkuk). One fighter was killed and two others were wounded (Telegram, July 17, 2020).
Al-Anbar Province
  • On July 18, 2020, an IED was activated near a Popular Mobilization headquarters about 15 km west of Baghdad. One fighter was killed (Telegram, July 18, 2020).
  • On July 16, 2020, an IED was activated against two Iraqi intelligence “agents” about 15 km west of Baghdad. One of them was killed and the other wounded (Telegram, July 18, 2020).
  • On July 14, 2020, an IED was activated against an Iraqi army vehicle west of Hit. Three soldiers were killed (Telegram, July 15, 2020).
  • On July 14, 2020, Iraqi soldiers were targeted by machine gun fire about 20 km west of Hit. Two soldiers were killed (Telegram, July 15, 2020).
Counterterrorist activity of the Iraqi security forces
Diyala Province
  • On July 19, 2020, an Iraqi army force located an ISIS guesthouse about 15 km southeast of Baqubah. They found weapons and explosives (Facebook page of the Iraqi Defense Ministry, July 19, 2020).
Kirkuk Province
  • On July 18, 2020, teams of the Interior Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate captured two wanted ISIS operatives about 35 km southwest of Kirkuk. One of the operatives had been in charge of manufacturing IEDs and the other was his assistant. They admitted to having participated in several attacks carried out by ISIS (Al-Sumaria, July 18, 2020).
Baghdad Province
  • On July 19, 2020, teams of the Baghdad Intelligence and Security Directorate, in coordination with a joint security force, captured a wanted “terrorist operative” (implicitly an ISIS operative) in southwest Baghdad (Facebook page of the Iraqi Defense Ministry (July 19, 2020).
Nineveh Province
  • On July 16, 2020, teams of the Interior Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate and the Counterterrorist Service captured nine wanted ISIS operatives in various areas in the Nineveh Province. In their interrogation, they admitted to having participated in terrorist attacks against the Iraqi security forces and having harassed civilians during ISIS’s control of the province (Al-Sumaria, July 16, 2020).
Counterterrorism and preventive activity by a British elite unit
  • According to a report from July 19, 2020, fighters from the British elite unit SAS located ISIS operatives, including operatives with British citizenship, who were hiding in caves in northern Iraq. The SAS unit attack involved the use of sniper fire, artillery fire, warplanes and armed UAVs. More than 100 ISIS operatives were killed in an attack on a cave in the area. ISIS operatives have a network of caves and tunnels in northern Iraq which they use as hiding places (Euro Weekly, July 19, 2020).