The extremist group Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed a new attack in Syria, with Syrian state media saying on Wednesday that “an improvised explosive device detonated yesterday against the vehicle of Salah Ahmad al-Saleh, head of the Justice Palace department in Babila, south of Damascus, leaving him injured in the Daf al-Shok area.”
The report noted that “ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had targeted him.”
Aaron Zelin, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, noted on social media platform X/Twitter that “the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in Raqqa that happened yesterday.”
Zelin went on to add that “interestingly, they still note at the end a reference to a US military presence at the base even though the US completed its military withdrawal from Syria in April.”
ISIS attack amid Syria's new stability
In addition, Zelin posted that “the Islamic State has also claimed responsibility for the attack on the oil tanker coming from Iraq near Manbij and the Head of Babila’s Palace of Justice in southern Damascus.”
The attack comes at an important time in Syria. The country is trying to stabilize itself after years of conflict. It is attracting investment and also working to rehabilitate energy facilities in central Syria.
For instance, it has a new development deal with US petroleum company ConocoPhillips.
Many of the key gas and oil facilities are in the Euphrates River valley and also in eastern Syria.
The Syrian government retook these areas in January from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The SDF is now integrating into the Syrian security forces. ISIS may be trying to exploit the changes on the ground to carry out attacks.
It should be recalled that ISIS used the chaos of the Syrian civil war to rise to power in the Euphrates River Valley. From there, they not only took Raqqa but also invaded Iraq in 2014 and carried out a genocide.
Reuters added that “the Islamic State claimed responsibility on Tuesday for an attack on a Syrian interior ministry camp in the city of Raqqa that killed one member of the security personnel a day earlier.” It noted that “Syria’s Interior Ministry said on Monday that one of its security personnel had been killed as its forces thwarted an attack by two Islamic State militants on a command headquarters of the country’s internal security forces in Raqqa.”
The attack also comes amidst a wave of protests in Syria against the former regime. This has led to concerns that there could be revenge killings by people seeking “justice” for crimes carried out by the Assad regime.
It also comes as reports said the US had hinted that Syria could intervene in Lebanon against Hezbollah. Damascus has said it is not interested in intervening in Lebanon.