ISIS sleeper cells coming to the surface in Idlib
A sleeper cell of the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has started operating in the northeastern Syrian province of Idlib.
Syrian Democratic
Forces, widely known as QSD, has, meanwhile, started admitting new recruits to
maintain its campaign against ISIS.
ISIS cells
ISIS sleeper cells have
been present in Idlib, ever since the terrorist organization was defeated in
Iraq and Syria and lost its last Syrian stronghold in Baghuz, a village in the
northeastern part of Syria.
The members of these
cells generally live among civilians. This is why some people find difficulty to
estimate the number of the members of these cells.
A large number of ISIS
terrorists also escaped to Idlib, after the sleeper cells arranged the matter
for them.
Tahrir al-Sham,
formerly al-Nusra, hunts down the members of the ISIS sleeper cells in Idlib.
It recently killed Mohamed al-Hussein, known to be the emir of these cells.
Tahrir al-Sham
succeeded in scoring victories against the ISIS sleeper cells by tracking down their
leaders and killing them. This sabotaged plans by the cells to achieve their
goals in Idlib.
Over 90% of the leaders
and commanders of ISIS were killed or put in jail, following the killing of
ISIS caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2019.
QSD and the
sleeper cells
QSD is admitting new
recruits with the aim of moving ahead with fighting the ISIS sleeper cells in
Idlib.
It said in a statement
on June 8 that it is asking people to join in its ranks after lifting a curfew
that was imposed in the past months because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The mainly Kurdish
forces arrested dozens of ISIS militants in the past months, within their
cooperation with the Global Alliance to Defeat ISIS.
