The Islamic State terror group announced on Saturday that it carried out two assaults on Syrian military personnel in the country’s north and east, presenting the incidents as the start of a new operational campaign aimed at the Syrian government.
According to the group’s Dabiq news outlet, its terrorists shot “an individual of the apostate Syrian regime” in Mayadin, located in Deir al-Zor province, using a handgun. It added that two additional troops were targeted with machine-gun fire in the northern city of Raqqa.
Syria’s Defence Ministry reported that a soldier and a civilian were killed the same day by what it described as “unknown assailants.” A military source said the fallen soldier served in the army’s 42nd Division.
These attacks follow a rise in operations by Islamic State against the leadership of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who left al-Qaeda in 2016 and later led an alliance of Islamist groups that ousted Bashar al-Assad at the end of 2024.
Later on Saturday, the group released an audio message from spokesperson Abu Hudhayfa al-Ansari, who claimed that Syria had “moved from Iranian occupation to Turkish-American occupation.”
Islamic State declared that it had launched a “new phase of operations” in the country, labeling Sharaa a “watchdog” for the international coalition and warning that his fate would ultimately mirror that of Assad.
Sharaa formally committed Syria to the global coalition against Islamic State last November during a visit to the United States, where he met with President Donald Trump.
The latest attacks occurred just two days after the group claimed responsibility for another assault in Deir al-Zor that killed a member of the Interior Ministry’s internal security forces and injured another.
In recent hours, multiple social media pages and Telegram channels aligned with Islamic State have urged supporters to increase attacks, particularly those involving motorcycles and small arms.
Since Assad’s fall, the terrorist group has carried out six attacks on Syrian government targets.
A report released last week by the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism stated that Sharaa and two senior ministers have survived five attempted assassinations attributed to the group.