According to the Young Reporters Club, ISIS claimed responsibility for two attacks on Saturday, March 16, targeting Syrian army personnel in northern and eastern Syria, announcing what it described as a new phase of operations against the interim Syrian president.
The terrorist group announced on its Dabiq news agency that it targeted “a member of the apostate Syrian regime” in the city of Mayadin in Deir Ezzor province using a pistol and attacked two other personnel with a machine gun in the city of Raqqa in northern Syria.
The Syrian Defense Ministry said in a statement that a Syrian army soldier and a civilian were killed on Saturday by “unknown attackers.” A military source told Reuters that the soldier belonged to the army’s 42nd Division.
The attacks come amid a sharp escalation by ISIS against the Syrian leadership under the interim presidency of Abu Muhammad al-Julani, a former al-Qaeda leader. Julani broke away from the group in 2016 and then led the coalition that toppled Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.
On Saturday evening, ISIS released a recorded statement from its spokesman, Abu Hudhaifa al-Ansari, in which he said that Syria had been occupied by Türkiye and the United States.
The group announced that it had begun a “new phase of operations” in Syria, describing Golani as the “observer” of the global coalition and vowing that his fate would be no different from that of Assad.
During a trip to the United States last November, Golani signed Syria’s accession to the global coalition to defeat ISIS while meeting with US President Donald Trump.
The latest incidents come two days after ISIS claimed responsibility for another attack in Deir Ezzor that killed a member of the Interior Ministry’s internal security forces and wounded another. Several pro-ISIS social media accounts and Telegram channels have called for an escalation of attacks using motorbikes and firearms in recent hours.
ISIS has carried out six attacks against Syrian government targets since the fall of Assad. A report by the UN Counter-Terrorism Office released last week said that Golani and two senior cabinet ministers were targeted in five foiled assassination attempts by ISIS.
