342 ISIS attacks reported in northern Syria in 2021​

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Islamic State group (ISIS) has conducted over 300 terrorist operations, killing hundreds of people in northern Syria, including Rojava, in the course of this year, a conflict monitor reported on Sunday as the re-emergence of the militant group threatens the security of the area.

The terror group launched over 342 armed attacks in Deir ez-Zor, Hasaka, Raqqa and Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said in a recent report.

The attacks killed 228 people, among them are five children, nine women and 135 security members including officers of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), it added.

In joint operations with the US-led coalition, the SDF arrested 858 ISIS suspects since the beginning of the year. 

Four hundred and nine of them were later released while the rest are still in detention, noted the monitor. 

ISIS controlled swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014. The terrorist group was territorially defeated in Iraq and Syria in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

The latest Pentagon report on the fight against ISIS stated that the group’s activities have “significantly” decreased from July to September 2021 in both Iraq and Syria, but “there were signs that the group is ‘poised to increase activity in the coming quarter after a period of recuperation and recovery,’” it noted, citing the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

The SDF on Saturday announced the arrest of a prominent ISIS leader who was involved in a 2014 attack on the Kurdish town of Kobane in Rojava.

An alleged ISIS financier was arrested in Deir ez-Zor last month. 

In its propaganda magazine on Thursday, ISIS claimed it conducted two attacks in Syria from December 16 to 22, killing and injuring 5 people.