ISIS Member Arrested During Preemptive Strike in Eastern Syria
In a new preemptive operation against ISIS cells, Syrian security forces announced the arrest of a member of the terrorist organization in the country’s east.
According to the Syrian News Agency, “Internal security forces in Deir ez-Zor province carried out a targeted operation resulting in the capture of a member of the terrorist organization Daesh.”
The Ministry of Interior reported via its Telegram channel the statements of the provincial internal security commander, Colonel Darrar al-Shamlan: “Based on intensive monitoring and field surveillance operations, internal security units in the city of al-Mayadin executed a carefully planned security operation, which led to the arrest of Mahmoud Eid al-Ali, a member of ISIS cells involved in targeting and killing a member of the 86th Brigade of the Ministry of Defense.”
He explained that “this operation followed the collection of precise information and confirmed evidence proving the individual’s involvement in carrying out the terrorist act, and during initial interrogations, he admitted belonging to the organization and participating in the crime.”
The Internal Security Directorate emphasized that its efforts continue to “pursue and dismantle any cells attempting to disrupt the security and stability of the region, while completing all necessary legal procedures to refer those involved to justice.”
On Tuesday, the internal security forces dismantled an ISIS terrorist cell involved in an attack on one of its checkpoints west of the city of Raqqa.
In the east of the country, ISIS claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a separate attack on a military headquarters in al-Mayadin, Deir ez-Zor province, which resulted in the death of one soldier, days after another attack in the same city.
This escalation follows the organization’s announcement of the launch of a “new phase of operations” against the government.
Damas had announced during Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara’s visit to Washington in November that it was officially joining the international coalition established in 2014 under U.S. leadership to combat ISIS, after the group had controlled large areas of Iraq and Syria before being gradually defeated between 2017 and 2019.
