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“Islamic State” Attacks the International Coalition and the Syrian Government After Military Operations
The “Islamic State” organization has attacked the international coalition and the Syrian government following joint operations against its leadership in the areas of al-Bab and Atma in northern Syria. According to the editorial of issue “510” of the weekly newspaper “Al-Naba,” affiliated with the organization and issued today, Friday, August 29, the recent targeting in Atma, which resulted in the killing of a top leader during a raid carried out by coalition forces supported by the Syrian Interior Ministry, was described by the newspaper as “more heinous than the chemical massacres” committed by the previous regime. It considered what happened to be “Joulani’s massacre,” in reference to the Syrian president in the transitional phase, Ahmad al-Shar’a.
The newspaper linked the recent military operations to the escalation of the new Syrian government’s presence, which it described as “an enemy of Islam” and a continuation of the “Tavghut” approach in fighting “jihadist” organizations. It indicated that the West “succeeded in creating a new dictator of jihadist origins” in Syria, believing that this stage represents “the peak of tyrant-making” through investing in armed factions that emerged from a “jihadist” environment but have turned into “tools in the service of the Crusaders.”
The editorial also addressed what it called the “manufacturing of terrorism,” which it said is used by the West to tarnish the image of jihad through large programs and budgets. It viewed the organization as confronting this with what it called “just terrorism,” which expanded its influence across several continents. It argued that the failure of the international coalition to stop this momentum led to its orientation toward “creating tyrants with jihadist backgrounds” to combat the organization.
In the context of the operations, the international coalition fighting the “Islamic State” carried out a joint night raid on August 20 in the Atma area of Idlib countryside in northwest Syria, resulting in the killing of an Iraqi leader of the organization and the arrest of five individuals who were handed over to local security forces. Additionally, U.S. forces carried out a raid on the city of al-Bab in the Aleppo countryside on July 25, killing prominent leader Diaa Zuba’a Mislah Al-Haradani and his two sons, in what was described as targeting sources of direct threat to U.S. and coalition forces.
Meanwhile, the Syrian government, in cooperation with coalition forces, carried out its first operation against the “Islamic State” in the city of al-Bab. Local sources and Al-Idlib News reported that operations are ongoing to confront the organization’s influence and punish its leadership.
