Syria

Spotlight on Global Jihad (May 18-24, 2023)

The moderate increase in ISIS’s activity around the world continued this week. The hotspot of activity was in Africa. In Syria: ISIS carried out several attacks against the Syrian army and the forces supporting it in the desert region. In Lebanon A senior Al-Qaeda operative who was responsible for establishing the organization’s cells in Lebanon was detained northeast of Tripoli. A senior ISIS operative was detained in the Sidon area. In Nigeria ISIS continued its high-intensity activity against the Nigerian army in the northeast of the country. The main incident was the detonation of a car bomb.
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Spotlight on Terrorism: Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria (May 5-18, 2023)

Hezbollah plans to hold a live-fire military exercise near the Israeli border on May 21, 2023. On May 12, 2023, Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech in which he represented the most recent round of fighting in the Gaza Strip as an achievement for the resistance axis. He also warned that any targeted killing in the future would not go without a response. The Lebanese minister of energy announced that in September 2023 the TotalEnergies and ENI oil and natural gas-drilling companies would begin drilling in Block 9 off the coast of Lebanon. Reservations are increasing in Lebanon regarding the candidacy of Suleiman Frangieh for president; he is close to Hezbollah and the Syrian regime.
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Spotlight on Global Jihad (May 11-17, 2023)

This week, ISIS’s activity around the world has moderately increased. The hotspots of activity were in Syria, Iraq, and Africa. Syria: In Damascus, ISIS operatives detonated an IED against a police car. Three policemen were killed. Iraq: ISIS carried out four attacks this week, killing six members of the Iraqi security forces. Nigeria: ISIS continued its intensive activity against targets of the Nigerian army and the forces of the African Coalition (MNJTF). Democratic Republic of the Congo: ISIS continued its activity against Christian residents near the border with Uganda. Burkina Faso: Militants, apparently Al-Qaeda or ISIS operatives, killed at least 33 civilians and set their property on fire. Somalia: Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab executed dozens of ISIS operatives detained by it.
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The Nujaba Movement – the Movement of the Noble Ones: One of the dominant pro-Iranian militias in Iraq

The Nujaba Movement (or the Movement of the Noble Ones, is an Iraqi Shiite pro-Iranian militia established in 2013 by Sheikh Akram Abbas al-Kaabi and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Qods Force. It is one of the largest militias in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).The Nujaba Movement numbers 8,000-10,000 operatives organized in three brigades, two based in Iraq and one in Syria. Regarding Israel, it should be noted that the militia is part of the Axis of Resistance led by Iran, and its goal is to act to “liberate” the Golan Heights and destroy the State of Israel.
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Spotlight on Iran (April 27-10 May, 2023)

Iranian President paid an official visit to Syria. Fifteen agreements for bilateral cooperation were signed at a meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad. While in Syria Raisi also met with families of pro-Iranian militia fighters, the heads of the Palestinian factions in Damascus and a delegation of Hezbollah officials. At a meeting with the Syrian defense minister, Iran's defense minister expressed Iran's willingness to supply Syria with advanced weapons. The head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization announced that Iran was prepared to repair and renovate Syria's airfields, including the international airport in Damascus. Sources in eastern Syria reported the recent formation of two new pro-Iranian militias. Iran condemned Israel's targeted killings of three leading PIJ terrorists and issued an urgent call for the Muslim world to undertake measures that would deter Israel.
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Spotlight on Global Jihad (April 24 – May 3, 2023)

This week, ISIS carried out relatively low-scale activity around the world. The focus of the activity was on Africa.A US-led Global Coalition force, supported by the Kurdish SDF forces, detained a senior ISIS commander north of Al-Raqqah. The US Army reported an airstrike against a senior Al-Qaeda operative in northwestern Syria. In Nigeria: ISIS continued its activity against Nigerian army targets and against local residents in the northeast of the country. In Congo ISIS continued its activity against Christian residents in the northeast of the country. At least seven residents were killed. Three people, two of them Jews and a Tunisian security guard, were killed in an attack carried out at the entrance to a synagogue on the island of Djerba in Tunisia . So far, no organization has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it may have been an Islamic-motivated attack. The editorial of ISIS’s Al-Naba weekly stressed ISIS’s weakness in the Arab region alongside its expansion on the African continent, noting that Africans have replaced the Arabs as successors of the path of jihad.
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Syria

Syria is a central factor in the Arab-Israeli conflict and has been in conflict with the State of Israel since its establishment. Syria’s basic position rejects the Zionist idea and views the State of Israel as a foreign element that must be uprooted. Since its establishment, Syria has led the political and military struggle against pre-state Israel and the State of Israel. Syria is demanding that Israel give up its control over an area of about 1,200 square kilometers in the Golan Heights, which was occupied by Israel in 1967. In view of its profound hostility to Israel, Syria has supported the Palestinian terrorist organizations and Hezbollah for many years. Syria was designated as a terrorism-supporting state by the US State Department back in 1979.  

Despite repeated attempts since the early 1990s to reach a peace agreement with Syria, an official state of war still exists between it and Israel. These relations have been influenced by the involvement of elements such as the Soviet Union and Iran, Syria’s relations with other Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon) and its relations with the Palestinians. These relations have also been influenced by the fact that Syria perceives Israel’s territory as part of what it calls Greater Syria.

Since early 2011, there has been a civil war in Syria between President Bashar Assad and the forces loyal to him, and rebel organizations with various ideologies and political orientation. The civil war has led to the destruction of the country’s infrastructure, the removal of Syria from the Arab League, and tension in its relations with Sunni countries (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Turkey). Syria’s relations with the United States and Western countries have also deteriorated. On the other hand, the Syrian regime is supported by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, and by Shiite militias supported by Iran.