Islamic State claims attack on Government forces in Deir Ezzor

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for an attack against government forces in Deir Ezzor, eastern Syria, which took place on Monday, February 16.

Through its affiliated Amaq News Agency, the group said that its fighters targeted “two soldiers of the apostate Syrian regime near the town of al-Raghib with machine guns, killing one and wounding the other.”

According to the group’s al-Naba newspaper, the attack occurred on Monday, February 16, near al-Raghib in the Dhiban area of Deir Ezzor province, using machine guns.

An Enab Baladi correspondent in Deir Ezzor confirmed that the attack took place, adding that a second attack occurred yesterday in the same area, injuring several Internal Security members.

A Syrian security source told Reuters that the two targeted officers were brothers.

This marks the fourth attack claimed by the Islamic State against Syrian government forces. It follows an assault in the Suwayda desert in southern Syria in May 2025, and two attacks on security patrols in Aleppo and Idlib in December 2025.

Since the Syrian government regained control of parts of Deir Ezzor, unidentified gunmen have carried out several attacks, including on positions in the town of al-Bahra in eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, and two assaults on the al-Subha checkpoint, according to Enab Baladi’scorrespondent.

Following one of these incidents, an Internal Security source told Enab Baladi that one of the perpetrators was arrested, while others managed to flee.

In recent days, Deir Ezzor province has witnessed a shift in control from the Syrian Democratic Forces, SDF, to the Syrian army.

The SDF withdrew without fighting from the predominantly Arab provinces of Raqqa and Deir Ezzor after a sudden defection of Arab tribes from its ranks, retreating to its last stronghold in al-Hasakah province in northeastern Syria.

In the editorial of its weekly issue No. 531, published on January 22, the Islamic State launched a lengthy and sharp attack on a series of recent developments in Syria and the region. It focused on three main actors: the United States, the new Syrian government, and the Autonomous Administration in northeastern Syria.

The new Syrian government occupied a significant portion of the group’s criticism. The statement condemned what it described as the “handover of power” to these forces, claiming it was carried out under “purely Western direction.”

The SDF had been fighting the Islamic State with support from the US-led international coalition, which the Syrian government joined in February 2025.

During January, the Islamic State claimed four operations, three against the SDF and one against the government.

The most recent operations claimed by the group this month were two attacks announced on January 7. The group said it had targeted an SDF patrol in the town of Jadid Akidat in Deir Ezzor countryside, and in a separate statement claimed the destruction of an oil tanker in the same town.

On January 4, the group claimed to have targeted SDF fighters in the town of al-Salihiyah in Deir Ezzor, stating that several fighters were wounded without specifying the number, and without reporting any fatalities.

The only attack claimed against government forces last month occurred on January 6, when the group said it shot and killed a Syrian army soldier in the village of Batish in Hama countryside using a pistol.

In statistics published by Amaq News Agency, the group said it had carried out 136 attacks in Syria in 2025, resulting in 228 casualties, killed or wounded, out of a total of 1,218 attacks recorded across 13 countries in Asia and Europe during the same year.

[Source: Enab Baladi English]