The crowded and neglected Shiite slum where the attack was carried out (Khaama Press, October 25, 2020).

Compound of the Iraqi Counterterrorism Unit northeast of Baqubah before it was destroyed.

ISIS operative standing on the ruins of an observation tower (Telegram, October 25, 2020)

IEDs and weapons found by the Iraqi army (Facebook page of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, October 25, 2020)

Bodies of the victims of the suicide bombing attack carried out by ISIS (Afghanistan Times, October 24, 2020).

• In the Idlib region, two airstrikes were carried out last week by Syria and Russia: Russian fighter jets attacked a training camp of the Turkish-sponsored rebel organization Faylaq al-Sham (dozens killed, more than 100 wounded). The reason for this is unclear. US aircraft attacked a meeting of commanders of the Guardians of Religion Organization (17 killed, according to American military sources). The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Guardians of Religion Organization is a target of frequent US airstrikes (two senior commanders of the organization were killed by a US aircraft last week).
• ISIS has announced a new campaign of attacks, entitled Raids of Response to the Call (i.e., response to the call of ISIS’s spokesman last week). To date, ISIS has carried out over 50 attacks as part of the campaign, most of them in Iraq (27), but the two most noteworthy attacks were carried out in Afghanistan. The campaign is expected to continue in ISIS’s provinces around the world.
• Noteworthy attacks to date in the following countries:
  • Iraq: As in previous campaigns, this time too most of the attacks were carried out in Iraq. Most of them were routine attacks, mainly ambushes, activating IEDs, sniper fire, small arms fire and targeted killings.
  • The Democratic Republic of Congo: ISIS operatives broke into a prison in the northeast of the country and liberated most of the prisoners. This operation is presented by ISIS as the start of the current campaign of attacks.
  • Nigeria: ISIS’s intensive activity continues in Borno State, in the northeast of the country. This activity consisted mainly of attacking convoys, activating IEDs, and attacking army camps and facilities. According to ISIS, dozens of Nigerian soldiers were killed in the attacks.
  • Afghanistan: ISIS’s Khorasan Province carried out intensive activity, mainly in Kabul and Jalalabad. This activity included two suicide bombing attacks in Kabul against Shiite civilians (perceived by ISIS as infidels). Dozens of Shiites were killed in these attacks.
• In its media outlets, ISIS published an article praising the murderer who beheaded the teacher in France. The article calls on jihadists to carry out terrorist attacks in Western countries wherever they are, using whatever means available to them: ramming attacks, stabbing attacks, and slitting throats. On the ground, ISIS flags were waved in demonstrations in support of the murder and in condemnation of France, which were held in northeastern Syria in the region of Deir ez-Zor (in the Euphrates Valley) and in the city of Ras al-Ayn (near the border with Turkey).

ISIS’s attacks around the world

Announcement on the launch of the Raids of Response to the Call campaign in the main article in ISIS’s Al-Naba’ weekly. The picture shows the prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo from which hundreds of prisoners were liberated by ISIS (Al-Naba’ weekly, Telegram, October 22, 2020).

Summary of ISIS’s activity in the various provinces (October 15-21, 2020)

• On October 22, 2020, ISIS’s Al-Naba’ weekly published an infographic summarizing ISIS’s activity on October 15-21, 2020. During this period, ISIS carried out 45 attacks around the world, compared to 30 in the previous week. The largest number of attacks was carried out in Iraq (26). Also noteworthy was the increase in the number of attacks in West Africa (9). Attacks were also carried out in ISIS’s other provinces: Syria (5); Central Africa (3); and Khorasan, i.e., Afghanistan (2) (Al-Naba’ weekly, Telegram, October 22, 2020).
• According to the infographic, over 125 people were killed and wounded in these attacks, compared to 69 in the previous week. The largest number of casualties (72) was in West Africa. The other casualties were in Iraq (27); Central Africa (20); Syria (5); and Khorasan, i.e., Afghanistan (1) (Telegram, October 22, 2020).

The Syrian arena

The Idlib region

Russian airstrike against a training camp of a Turkish-sponsored rebel organization

• On October 26, 2020, Russian fighter jets attacked a training camp of the Turkish-sponsored Faylaq al-Sham rebel organization about 20 km northwest of Idlib (about 10 km from the Syrian-Turkish border). At least 32 operatives were reportedly killed, about 100 were wounded, and 9 were reported missing (Khotwa, October 26, 2020). A new batch of Faylaq al-Sham fighters were reportedly about to finish their training in the coming days (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, October 26, 2020). Russia did not officially claim responsibility for carrying out the airstrike, and so far no official reactions have been found in the Russian media. However, Russian Telegram channels reportedly published an aerial photo of a group of operatives in the camp before the attack (Enab Baladi, a Syrian news website affiliated with the rebel organizations, October 27, 2020).

    
Right: Faylaq al-Sham training camp which was attacked by Russian fighter jets. The large compound on the bottom left was apparently the main target of the attack (almodon.com, an electronic newspaper operating from Beirut, Lebanon, October 26, 2020). Left: Aerial photo showing dozens of Faylaq al-Sham operatives a short while before they were targeted by the airstrike (Edlib Media Center, October 26, 2020)

• During the funeral procession in Idlib, the spokesman for the National Liberation Front, an umbrella framework operating under Turkish sponsorship, announced that the airstrike was a violation of the non-escalation agreement [between Russia and] Turkey. He added that in response to the airstrike, artillery was fired at Syrian army positions (Khotwa, October 26, 2020). On the following day, a Syrian news website reported that the National Liberation Front had fired at Syrian army positions in several sites in the Idlib region and in the rural area west of Aleppo (Enab Baladi, October 27, 2020).

• HTS, the jihadi organization dominant in the Idlib region, a rival of the attacked organization, published a condolence notice. According to the notice, dozens of operatives were killed or wounded in a Russian airstrike which targeted a camp of Faylaq al-Sham. HTS promised to avenge the death of those operatives (Ibaa, October 26, 2020).

Airstrike against an Al-Qaeda-affiliated organization

• On the night of October 22, 2020, Coalition aircraft attacked a target of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Guardians of Religion Organization (Hurras al-Din) in a village about 35 km northwest of Idlib (near the border with Turkey). It was reported that the airstrike targeted a meeting of the organization commanders, and that 10 commanders were killed in the airstrike. According to American military sources, 17 operatives were killed (AFP, October 22, 2020; Orient News, October 23, 2020). The Guardians of Religion Organization in the Idlib region is frequently targeted by US airstrikes (last week, two senior commanders of the organization were killed in a US airstrike near Idlib).

ISIS’s activity in the Syria Province^[4]

The region of Deir ez-Zor and Al-Mayadeen

• On October 27, 2020, an SDF fighter was targeted by gunfire about 10 km north of Al-Mayadeen. He was killed.
• On October 26, 2020, a local authority official affiliated with the SDF was targeted by machine gun fire in a village about 10 km north of Al-Mayadeen. The official and his escort were wounded.

Al-Raqqah region

• On October 21, 2020, an IED was activated against a tanker of Al-Qaterji Co. which carried oil for the Syrian regime about 10 km northwest of Al-Raqqah. The tanker was damaged.

An escape attempt from the Al-Hawl camp thwarted

• On October 22, 2020, the Kurdish Internal Security forces (Asayish) thwarted an escape attempt by four women and their children from the Al-Hawl detention camp, about 40 km east of Al-Hasakah. Three of the women are Russian and the fourth is Tunisian with Austrian citizenship (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, October 22, 2020).

Palmyra region

• On October 23, 2020, ISIS operatives fired machine guns at a convoy of the Syrian army and the forces supporting it on the Palmyra-Deir ez-Zor highway. Passengers in the vehicles were killed or wounded.

The desert region northeast of Hama

• On October 20-22, 2020, ISIS operatives carried out attacks against forces supporting the Syrian army in the desert region northeast of Hama. The ISIS operatives advanced and forced the troops supporting the Syrian army to retreat. In response, the Syrian army sent reinforcements of the Palestinian Al-Quds Brigade, the Homeland Defense Forces and Military Security teams. Russian aircraft carried out nearly 40 airstrikes against ISIS targets. During the fighting, ISIS operatives took control of two tanks and seized large amounts of weapons, ammunition and military equipment (albadia24, October 23, 2020).

Syrian-Turkish border area

• On October 23, 2020, an IED was activated against a vehicle of a mukhtar (commune leader) in a village south of Manbij (about 80 km northeast of Aleppo). The vehicle was damaged.

ISIS flags in demonstrations against France in northeastern Syria

• On October 25, 2020, a demonstration was held in the Deir ez-Zor region (in the Euphrates Valley) addressing the murder of the French teacher by an Islamist in France last week. The demonstrators, local members of the Al-Shueitat tribe, called “to support the prophet of Allah.” During the demonstration, an ISIS flag was waved (Telegram, October 25, 2020). This may indicate that ISIS enjoys local support among the Al-Shueitat, a large Sunni-Arab tribe living in the area of Deir ez-Zor, where ISIS carries out intensive guerrilla and terror activity.

• In the city of Ras al-Ayn, about 70 km northwest of Al-Hasakah (near the Syrian-Turkish border), a similar demonstration was held^[6]. The demonstrators raised the ISIS flag as well as another flag associated with radical Islam (Russia al-Youm, October 25, 2020).

    
Right: Demonstration in which an ISIS flag was waved in Ras al-Ayn. The poster on the right reads in Arabic and French: “We shall cut off the tongue that has the audacity to go against the Messenger of Allah” (Russia Al-Youm, October 25, 2020). Left: Flag associated with jihadist Islam (the Shahada^[7] alongside the sword of jihad). One of the photos shows French President Macron covered in blood (Russia Al-Youm, October 25, 2020)

 The Iraqi arena

ISIS attacks in the various provinces^[8]

The city of Baghdad

• On October 23, 2020, an Iraqi soldier was targeted by machine gun fire in northern Baghdad. He was wounded.

Diyala Province

• On October 27, 2020, ISIS operatives captured a Shiite about 35 km northeast of Baqubah. He was shot to death. His body was booby-trapped with an IED. Operatives of the Iraqi Military Intelligence were tricked into approaching his body, and the IED was detonated. An officer and three soldiers were killed and two others were wounded.
• On October 25, 2020, two fighters of the Iraqi Counterterrorism Unit were targeted by sniper fire about 25 km northeast of Baqubah. One was killed and the other was wounded.
• On October 24, 2020, an Iraqi soldier was targeted by sniper fire about 55 km north of Baqubah. He was wounded.
• On October 24, 2020, an Iraqi soldier was targeted by sniper fire about 60 km north of Baqubah. He was killed.
• On October 23, 2020, ISIS operatives tricked an Iraqi army force into entering a house which was booby-trapped with IEDs about 40 km northeast of Baqubah. An officer and two soldiers were wounded.
• On October 22, 2020, ISIS bomb squads activated 10 IEDs against eight compounds and observation towers of the Iraqi Counterterrorism Unit about 15 km northeast of Baqubah. The facilities were destroyed.
• On October 21, 2020, an Iraqi policeman was targeted by sniper fire in central Al-Miqdadiya, about 40 km northeast of Baqubah. He was wounded.
• On October 21, 2020, ISIS operatives set up a roadblock about 80 km northeast of Baqubah. Three Popular Mobilization fighters were captured and executed.

Al-Anbar Province

• On October 26, 2020, an IED was activated against an Iraqi army vehicle about 75 km north of Al-Rutba (about 30 km southeast of the Iraqi-Syrian border). The passengers were killed or wounded.
• On October 26, 2020, ISIS operatives ISIS operatives ambushed Iraqi Border Police fighters near the Iraqi-Syrian border. Four fighters were killed and two others were wounded.
• On October 24, 2020, an Iraqi soldier was targeted by sniper fire in a village near Al-Rutba. In addition, an Iraqi army compound in the same area was targeted by small arms fire. One soldier was wounded.
• On October 22, 2020, a car bomb parked near an Iraqi army roadblock east of Ramadi (about 90 km west of Baghdad) was activated. One soldier was killed and two others were wounded.
• On October 20, 2020, a Tribal Mobilization compound east of Fallujah (about 50 km west of Baghdad) was targeted by machine gun fire. One fighter was killed and two others were wounded.

Erbil Province

• On October 27, 2020, two Iraqi soldiers were targeted by sniper fire north of Makhmur, about 60 km southwest of Erbil. One was killed and the other was wounded.
• On October 25, 2020, an Iraqi army compound east of Makhmur, about 60 km southwest of Erbil, was targeted by machine gun fire. Two soldiers were killed and another was wounded.

Salah al-Din Province

• On October 26, 2020, Tribal Mobilization fighters were targeted by machine gun fire about 60 km north of Baghdad. Two fighters were killed and two others were wounded.
• On October 26, 2020, the general prosecutor was targeted by machine gun fire near his house (about 70 km north of Baghdad). He was wounded.
• On October 25, 2020, two Iraqi soldiers were targeted by machine gun fire about 30 km north of Baghdad. One soldier was killed and the other was wounded.
• On October 25, 2020, a Tribal Mobilization compound was targeted by machine gun fire. It went up in flames and one fighter was wounded.
• On October 23, 2020, Popular Mobilization fighters east of Samarra were targeted by sniper fire. Five fighters were killed.
• On October 23, 2020, an IED was activated against a Popular Mobilization vehicle east of Samarra. The passengers were killed or wounded.

Kirkuk Province

• On October 24, 2020, an Iraqi police compound was targeted by machine gun fire about 40 km west of Kirkuk. A policeman was wounded.
• On October 22, 2020, an IED was activated against an Iraqi army vehicle about 60 km south of Kirkuk. One soldier was killed and two others were wounded.

Nineveh Province

• On October 22, 2020, an IED was activated against an Iraqi army vehicle about 40 km south of Mosul. The passengers were killed or wounded. When a force arrived on the scene to provide assistance, it was targeted by machine gun fire. Several soldiers were killed or wounded.

Counterterrorism activities by the Iraqi security forces

Kirkuk Province

• On October 22, 2020, Iraqi security forces detained five operatives of ISIS’s Tigris region. One of the operatives was involved in transferring military equipment, food supplies and electronic equipment to ISIS squads and another operative furnished them with information about the movements of the Iraqi security forces (Al-Sumaria, October 22, 2020).
• On October 22, 2020, Iraqi military intelligence teams captured four wanted ISIS operatives in the Daqouq District, some 30 km south of Kirkuk (Al-Sumaria, October 23, 2020).

Nineveh Province

• On October 24, 2020, Coalition aircraft carried out an airstrike against a tunnel where ISIS operatives were hiding, about 40 km south of Mosul. The tunnel was destroyed (Al-Sumaria, October 25, 2020).
• On October 23, 2020, teams from the Iraqi National Security Agency captured 10 operatives of dormant ISIS cells (Al-Sumaria, October 23, 2020).

The city of Baghdad

• On October 25, 2020, teams from the intelligence agency subordinate to the Iraqi Interior Ministry captured two “terrorist operatives” (implicitly ISIS operatives) in the city of Baghdad. One of the operatives was a fighter and the other was a fighter and a distributor of salaries for ISIS in the Southern Province. In their initial interrogation, both of them admitted that they had taken part in carrying out attacks against the Iraqi security forces and against Iraqi civilians (Al-Sumaria, October 25, 2020).

Salah al-Din Province

• On October 25, 2020, a force of the Iraqi army’s Salah al-Din Operations Command located an ISIS weapons depot about 100 km north of Baghdad. The weapons depot contained IEDs and weapons, which were neutralized by an Iraqi army combat engineering unit (Facebook page of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, October 25, 2020)

Overview

• This is the third statement of ISIS’s Spokesman Abu Hamza al-Qurashi in the year that has passed since his appointment (following the targeted killing of his predecessor). His first statement (November 4, 2019) was an announcement on the appointment of a successor to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was eliminated in a targeted killing, and a call on Muslims to avenge his death and pledge allegiance to the new caliph^[2]. His second statement (January 29, 2020) was a call on Muslims to thwart President Trump’s Deal of the Century^[3]. His current statement comes in the wake of the normalization of relations between Arab countries and Israel, with Saudi Arabian encouragement.
• In the ITIC’s assessment, the spokesman’s call to overthrow Arab leaders and carry out attacks in Saudi Arabia is ISIS’s reaction to the threat of normalization, as perceived by ISIS. In retrospect, ISIS’s encouragement of its operatives and supporters to avenge Al-Baghdadi’s death and thwart the Deal of the Century failed to receive significant attention. In the ITIC’s assessment, this is first and foremost due to the fact that most of ISIS’s resources and attention were allocated to the main goal, which was and remains the rehabilitation of ISIS in its core countries (Iraq and Syria) after the defeats sustained by the organization.
• While in each of his previous statements, ISIS’s spokesman focused on one central issue, in his current statement he addresses all of ISIS’s provinces, showing that he is well aware of the current situation in each province. His specifically addressing the various provinces is intended, in the ITIC’s assessment, to glorify ISIS as an organization operating in many countries around the globe and raise the morale of the operatives mainly in provinces where ISIS suffered defeats (Afghanistan and Yemen). Especially prominent in his statement were Saudi Arabia (where ISIS has so far not been able to carry out significant attacks) and the African countries (where ISIS’s activity is getting stronger). ISIS’s operatives in Syria are praised for their successful attacks against Syrian and Russian soldiers (including the killing of a senior Russian officer) and tribal leaders supporting the Syrian regime. On the other hand, Iraq, ISIS’s most important province where most of its activity takes place, and the Sinai Province, are addressed only briefly.

Call to liberate prisoners

• Attacks whose purpose is to liberate prisoners is a familiar activity of ISIS, dating back to the period when the Islamic State in Iraq was establishing itself during the fighting against the US army. The climax of the campaigns of liberation from prisons in Iraq (Operation Breaking the Walls) was the break into Ghraib Prison, near Baghdad, liberating about 500 jihadi operatives (2013). In his two previous statements, ISIS’s spokesman said that the organization had not forgotten its prisoners and called on its operatives to act towards liberating them. In his current statement, he elaborates on this subject.
• The spokesman mentions the break-ins by ISIS operatives into prisons in Afghanistan^[4] and the Democratic Republic of Congo^[5]. He calls on ISIS operatives in all the provinces to follow in the footsteps of the organization operatives in Khorasan and forcibly liberate ISIS’s prisoners. He calls on ISIS’s prisoners, men and women, and their children, to wait patiently.
• ISIS’s Al-Naba’ weekly published (October 22, 2020) an article addressing the spokesman’s statement and the Raids of Response to the Call campaign. The article states that ISIS’s operatives launched the campaign with a significant attack on the main prison in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the article, the attack on the prison received considerable media attention because it took place two days after the speech by ISIS’s spokesman, in which he called for the liberation of prisoners, i.e., ISIS’s propaganda presents the attack as a realization of the spokesman’s call; in the ITIC’s assessment, there is no real basis for that.

Prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo which was attacked by ISIS, with hundreds of prisoners liberated. The photo appeared on the front page of ISIS’s Al-Naba’ weekly (Telegram, October 22, 2020).

Main points of ISIS’s spokesman

• Following are the main points made by ISIS’s Spokesman Abu Hamza al-Qurashi (Telegram, October 18, 2020):
  • A call on ISIS operatives in Iraq to stand firm against attacks by the Iraqi security forces and to exercise forbearance. The spokesman praises ISIS’s operatives in Syria for their commitment to fighting against the Syrian regime. He also praises the operatives for eliminating tribal leaders who support the Syrian regime, Syrian soldiers and Russian soldiers (including a high-ranking Russian army commander^[6]).
  • An attack on the clerics serving the Arab regimes: At the outset, ISIS’s spokesman attacks the clerics serving the “tyrannical” Arab rulers. These clerics, who formerly smeared ISIS and accused it of being an arm of Israel (referred to as “the Jews’ statelet”), now keep silent when the “statelet” of the Emirates and the “statelet” of Bahrain normalize their relations with Israel, while Israelis fill their countries and Saudi Arabia opens its airspace to Israeli planes.
  • Smearing the Saudi regime and calling to act against it: The spokesman claims that in the holy city of Mecca, places of licentious behavior and alcohol shops open with the support of clerics. The Saudi regime even grants support worth millions of dollars to the Iraqi-Shiite regime. The spokesman calls on Muslims (i.e., ISIS supporters) in the Arabian Peninsula to join the Islamic State. If they are unable to do so, they must kill Western citizens living among them. The spokesman also calls on ISIS operatives and supporters to destroy bars and other places of entertainment where there is licentious behavior and harm Saudi Arabia’s economic infrastructure (for example by burning oil pipelines, factories and other infrastructure which serve as sources of revenues for the Saudi administration, the “tyrannical government).”
  • A call on ISIS operatives and Muslims in African countries to overthrow local regimes and attack Western interests:
    • A call on Muslims in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Congo, Mali and Chad to attack the regimes (“tyrants”) in their countries, which are pawns in the hands of the West (the “Crusaders”). These regimes, the spokesman adds, work to spread Christianity in their countries. He calls on Muslims in these countries to join ISIS and set fire to factories owned by Western companies that are exploiting their resources.
    • Praise for ISIS operatives in West and Central Africa for their activities against France and those affiliated with it (“Crusader France and its affiliates”). The spokesman also praises ISIS operatives in Mozambique for their impressive victories (i.e., their takeover of territory in the northeast of the country). He calls on them to continue their activity with the goal of overthrowing the regime. He praises ISIS’s operatives in Somalia for killing policemen, soldiers and politicians, calling on them to continue in this path.
  • The spokesman praises ISIS’s operatives in Afghanistan (Khorasan Province) for standing firm against the military operations carried out against them by the Taliban and the international forces (alluding to the blows suffered by ISIS’s Khorasan Province last year). He praises the Khorasan Province for liberating the prisoners from one of the prisons in the Jalalabad Province. He encourages ISIS operatives in Afghanistan, saying that their situation will get better and that they will have new victories and liberate prisoners from additional prisons in Afghanistan, as happened in the past in Iraq.
  • Praise for ISIS operatives in Sinai for standing firm against the Egyptian army despite President Sisi’s (“Pharaoh”) determination to exterminate the jihad that they are carrying out. The spokesman calls on ISIS operatives in the Sinai Peninsula to continue waging a war to the death against the Egyptian army.
  • The spokesman addresses ISIS’s operatives in Yemen, calling on them to act with forbearance and continue to sacrifice for the sake of religion. He adds that there is still a long way to go fighting against the Houthi movement and against Al-Qaeda in Yemen (alluding to the blows suffered by ISIS’s Yemen Province in the last months).
  • At the end of his statement, he turns to the Western countries (“the infidels”), noting that ISIS has not surrendered and that the Islamic State is still standing. He threatens that ISIS will surprise the infidels in unexpected places and that ISIS operatives will come to the center of the houses (i.e., to the big cities of the countries of the West). At the end of the audiotape, he says that the soldiers of the International Coalition in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan will soon pull out from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, not by choice but because of the determination of ISIS operatives who are forcing them to leave^[7].

[^1] Surat al-A’raf, Verse 176. This means that Allah instructed the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, to tell the stories that he had told him, such as the stories of the prophets, to those who are not Muslims, so that they might be able to understand their meaning. ↑
^[2] See the ITIC’s Information Bulletin from November 5, 2019, “ISIS announces appointment of new leader in place of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.” ↑
^[3] See the ITIC’s Information Bulletin from February 2, 2020, “ISIS’s spokesman calls on Muslims around the globe to spearhead the struggle to thwart President Trump’s plan and calls on ISIS operatives in Sinai and Syria to attack Israeli communities.” ↑
^[4] On August 2, 2020, ISIS operatives from the Khorasan Province liberated prisoners from the main prison of the Nangarhar Province in the city of Jalalabad. ↑
^[5] On October 20, 2020, ISIS operatives broke into the main prison in the Beni area, in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo. About 1,350 prisoners escaped. ↑
^[6] This is a reference to an attack on a Syrian army convoy near Deir ez-Zor, on August 18, 2020. A senior Russian officer with the rank of major general was killed in the attack. ↑
^[7] This is baseless bragging because internal American considerations are at the basis of the pullout of US forces from Afghanistan and Iraq, and not ISIS attacks. Furthermore, the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Shiite militias handled by Iran in Iraq were the ones that exerted pressure on the American troops in these countries, and not ISIS. In addition, the decrease in the scope of US forces in Syria was not due to ISIS attacks. It seems that the US is not a preferred target for ISIS in the Syrian arena. ↑