Four years after the Iraqi government's "victory" over the jihadists at the end of 2017, followed by the loss of its last Syrian stronghold in March 2019, the Islamic State (IS) organization continues to rage in these two neighboring countries, in part of which she had self-proclaimed her "caliphate" in June 2014.

While the deadly assault launched on January 20 by members of the jihadist group against the Ghwayran prison in Hassaké was still ongoing in northeastern Syria, eleven Iraqi army soldiers were killed, on January 22, during a night attack carried out by the IS against a military base in the province of Diyala, in eastern Iraq.

These deadly, almost simultaneous operations raise fears of a regeneration of the jihadist organization, which remains a permanent and daily threat in the region.

"The events taking place on both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi border demonstrate that the IS jihadists are not only still very active in these two countries, but also that the organization has strengthened its capacities to carry out more and more complex and coordinated operations", underlines Wassim Nasr, specialist in jihadist movements at France 24.

A show of force from IS

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), dominated by the Kurds, declared on January 26 that they had regained control of the Ghwayran prison, where thousands of jihadists were detained, after six days of intense fighting.

Except that search operations are still underway in the vicinity of the prison, in which there are still members of the IS who refuse to surrender.

"The assault, which required, in addition to Kurdish fighters, the intervention of fighter planes and helicopters of the American army as well as the support of American and British special forces, was not completely mastered since skirmishes are still reported in adjacent streets," said Wassim Nasr.

On the night of Thursday to Friday, seven jihadists were killed in an airstrike carried out by the international coalition led by Washington in an area near the prison.

Wassim Nasr recalls that the IS, whose dogma imposes the release of its own from prisons, had already prepared, in November, an operation of this type against the same Syrian prison center, but that the project had been quickly foiled thanks to information Americans.

"At the time, a car bomb had been destroyed in its hiding place far from the prison", continues Wassim Nasr. "But the jihadists were able to reassemble a team and prepare two car bombs for the January 20 attack in a fairly short period of time, and this in an area supposedly squared and held by Kurdish forces with the support of the coalition, even more than usual after the first alert in November."

And to add: "Given the means used, the scale and the course of the assault, we can speak of a show of force by IS. They achieved their goal the day after the attack by exfiltrating some important prisoners, before holding out for several days by fixing the Kurdish forces in different areas away from the prison, while launching attacks in other regions of Syria, such as Deir Ezzor.

"ISIS is almost everywhere in rural Sunni Iraq"

The assault on the Hassaké prison has shed light on the organization's activity in neighboring Iraq, which has also been practically constant since June, estimates the specialist in jihadist movements, who have counted around thirty of actions in Syria and three major operations claimed by the IS in this country.

"The situation is no better in Iraq, where the organization that has returned to an insurrectionary modus operandi is almost everywhere in the Sunni rural areas of the west," he adds.

"A fact which demonstrates that IS is still in the same dynamic of harassing government and Kurdish forces and that its members enjoy a certain freedom of action and movement in these territories where there is a lack of security."

Attacks, suicide attacks, attacks on convoys or military bases... if the jihadists of the EI have lost whole sections of the Iraqi territory which was under their control, cells are increasing the attacks on this zone which extends from north of Baghdad to Kirkuk, nearly 250 km further north, straddling the provinces of Diyala, Salaheddine and Kirkuk.

"In addition to the last notable attack that took place in Diyala, the Iraqi government and military said they had carried out an airstrike from an F16 against IS positions in Tarmiya, a town 45 km from Baghdad", concludes Wassim Nasr.

"This means that they are also present at the gates of the Iraqi capital and that they are considered sufficiently threatening to be targeted by an air strike, and not only a security operation on the ground."

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app

google-play-badge_EN