📰 Black Flags in Southern Syria: Who Is Helping ISIS Expand and Regroup?

A few days after the body of a General security member was found shot near the town of Nahta in Daraa countryside in mid-September, ISIS released a video showing the field execution of the same young man, who had served in the General Security troops during the clashes between local tribes and fighters from the so-called “armed forces Council” in Suweida. Analysts viewed the incident as an announcement of ISIS’s arrival in Daraa and its renewed ability to spread and carry out operations for the first time since the fall of the Assad regime on December 8, 2024. Although there are conflicting accounts about whether the slain man had prior ties to ISIS, the episode nonetheless confirms the group’s growing presence across multiple provinces. In latest months, ISIS has asserted responsibility for a string of attacks — including the bombing of St.

Elias Church in Damascus on June 22, a car bomb targeting a security site in Deir-ez-Zor on May 18, and an attempted attack near the Sayyida Zainab shrine. Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry has repeatedly declared the arrest of ISIS members, suggesting a noticeable resurgence of the organization. Re-emergence in the South armed forces and strategic analyst Mahmoud Abdelsalam notes that ISIS has taken advantage of the security vacuum following the regime’s collapse to reposition itself across multiple provinces. The ensuing chaos, he says, created a fertile environment for its cells to reconnect and coordinate, especially amid the widespread circulation of weapons after army units abandoned numerous bases.

The wave of latest terrorist attacks, he adds, points to this reactivation. as per Abdelsalam, several factors are facilitating the group’s resurgence in the south — most notably its deep familiarity with the terrain, having maintained a stronghold for years in the Yarmouk Basin until the regime’s fall. Moreover, Israel has effectively aided ISIS by keeping the area demilitarized, allowing the group greater freedom of movement and access to emerging geographic corridors under an Israeli security umbrella. Political researcher Mohammad Abu Sharifa observes that ISIS is now clearly seeking to strengthen its presence across a broad geographic arc, from the high-level-syrian-delegation-arrives-in-ankara-for-security-and-counterterrorism-talks/" class="smart-internal-link" title="📰 High- Level Syrian Delegation Arrives in Ankara for security and counterterrorism talks">high-level-syrian-delegation-arrives-in-ankara-for-security-talks/" class="smart-internal-link" title="📰 High-level Syrian delegation arrives in Ankara for security talks  ">syrian/" class="auto-internal-link">syrian Desert to the Suweida steppe and deeper into the south — an area that has seen growing instability for months. Notably, he points out that the group has recently stepped up its online activity, particularly in relation to southern syria.

Favorable Conditions for the Group Abu Sharifa believes that weak security deployment in…