ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Islamic State (ISIS) has been ramping up its attacks in regions controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against both civilians and the Kurdish-led force. Over 50 such attacks have been documented since the start of 2025, according to a war monitor.
The US-backed SDF serves as the de facto army of northeast Syria (Rojava), and remains the main partner of the US-led global coalition to defeat ISIS.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Tuesday reported that militants likely linked to ISIS launched a “machine-gunfire attack on a military vehicle” in SDF-controlled regions, northeast of Deir ez-Zor province in east Syria.
A day prior, the UK-based war monitor reported four other attacks in similar regions in Deir ez-Zor “within the span of 72 hours” since Friday.
The Observatory also said that “an oil investor sustained different injuries” after he “was targeted by ISIS gunmen” east of the province on Monday.
A day prior, a civilian was shot dead by ISIS militants north of Deir ez-Zor “on charges of collaborating with the SDF” after “he had received several threats” from ISIS.
On Saturday, ISIS militants also gunned down a civilian east of the province, and the day before members of the organization launched a gunfire attack on a currency exchange office after its owner refused to pay extortion money to the group.
SOHR on Monday characterized these incidents as part of a wider resurgence activity by ISIS.
The war monitor noted that since the beginning of 2025, it has documented 53 attacks carried out by ISIS against civilians and employees of the SDF-held Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) in Rojava.
The death toll from these attacks has reached 13, ten from the SDF military personnel and three civilians, according to the war monitor.
The SDF played a key role in defeating ISIS in Syria in 2019 and capturing thousands of the group’s fighters and their kin. The SDF operates alongside hundreds of US troops as part of the global coalition to defeat ISIS.
The SDF, through its military forces and affiliated internal security forces (Asayish), are also the main on-the-ground personnel responsible for the physical securing of the Roj and al-Hol camps in northeast Syria.
Roj and al-Hol camps house an estimated 2,600 and 40,000 persons, respectively, who are believed to have ties to ISIS and have largely been branded as a breeding ground for terrorism.
Since its defeat in 2019, ISIS has been trying to regain its strength, particularly after a coalition of opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on December 8 toppled the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
SDF chief Mazloum Abdi has repeatedly warned of the growing threat posed by ISIS, especially within detention centers and camps.
On January 12, Abdi highlighted that while 10,000 ISIS fighters are imprisoned in Syria, 2,000 of whom are considered "highly dangerous."
He stressed the “need to intensify efforts to continue the fight against ISIS if we don’t want to see it make a comeback.”
