The Syrian Interior Ministry announced that it dismantled a cell affiliated with the Islamic State in the town of Maadamiyat al-Qalamoun (Qalamoun area, northern Rif Dimashq governorate, southern Syria).
In a statement posted on its official Facebook page on Saturday, October 19, the ministry said the operation ended the activity of a three-man cell: one member was “neutralized” while attempting to detonate a suicide belt, the second later died of his wounds, and the third was arrested.
The ministry added that the raid was carried out in cooperation with the General Intelligence Directorate and the Interior Security Command in Rif Dimashq, following close surveillance of the cell’s movements in the governorate’s northern countryside.
During the operation, security forces seized several small arms and assorted ammunition, in addition to a primed explosive belt, and referred the suspect to the competent authorities to complete the investigation.
Arrest of an Islamic State “affiliate”
The Interior Ministry did not mention any role for the US-led International Coalition in the operation. However, Charles Lister, director of the Syria Program at the Middle East Institute, wrote on X that the Coalition conducted its first-ever heliborne raid in the city of al-Dumayr (Rif Dimashq governorate, southern Syria), during which 47-year-old Ahmad Abdullah al-Masoud al-Badri was arrested.
Lister added that al-Badri is considered an Islamic State affiliate who had been hiding in the Syrian Desert (al-Badiya) for years, and that he had returned to the al-Dumayr area after the fall of the Assad regime. Al-Dumayr lies roughly 10 kilometers from Maadamiyat al-Qalamoun, and the two localities’ lands are interlinked.
He also asserted that the operation was a joint security mission in which Coalition forces detained al-Badri with the participation of special forces from Syria’s Ministry of Defense.
Commenting on Lister’s post, the US envoy to Syria, Thomas Barrack, wrote on X: “Syria is back on our side.”
There is no publicly announced agreement between Damascus and the International Coalition to combat the Islamic State, although the Coalition has targeted IS fighters in government-held areas.
Operation in Deir Ezzor
Coalition forces carried out an airdrop in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside on September 30.
At the time, Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Deir Ezzor reported that Coalition aircraft, in cooperation with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), conducted a heliborne raid in the town of al-Shuhail (eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, eastern Syria).
Two helicopters and a B-10 strike aircraft took part. The SDF began the ground assault amid heavy, indiscriminate gunfire in the area, spreading fear among residents, according to local testimonies.
Local sources from al-Shuhail told the correspondent that the raid resulted in the arrest of two civilians who do not belong to any armed faction or to the Islamic State.
Earlier strike in Idlib
On September 28, one person was killed when his home was targeted in the town of al-Tamanah (southern Idlib countryside, northwestern Syria) by aircraft believed to belong to the International Coalition.
Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Idlib reported that a Coalition MQ-9 drone struck the home of a man named Hashim Mohieddin Raslan in al-Tamanah. The man is accused of affiliation with the Islamic State, whose members and cells are repeatedly targeted by the Coalition. No additional casualties were reported.
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