Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in cooperation with the international coalition forces raided the hideouts of a terrorist cell affiliated with ISIS in Dhiban village in Deir ez-Zor countryside on Sunday, 30 January 2021.

According to the statement by the SDF Press Office, the terrorist cell was planning to launch terrorist operations in the region.
During the operation, two terrorists were arrested and a quantity of explosives and equipment was seized.

ISIS remains very active in Syria and Iraq. In the summer of 2014, the terrorist organization overran large parts of Iraq and Syria and brought them under its control. Across state borders, its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in October 2019, proclaimed a caliphate - with himself at its head. Countless people were murdered in bestial ways, with some 10,000 falling victim to the genocide in the Yazidi settlement area of Shengal (Sinjar) alone. Iraq prematurely declared victory over ISIS at the end of 2017, and in neighboring Syria the militia's territorial rule was ended in spring 2019.

Even though thousands of ISIS jihadists have been arrested since then, underground structures formed in Iraq and Syria. In regions such as Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Hama in Syria and Kirkuk, Baghdad, and Anbar in Iraq, these networks continue to carry out attacks. The frequency and quality of these attacks has increased significantly in recent weeks.

Two female politicians beheaded by ISIS in northeastern Syria

ISIS has most recently claimed to have carried out the twin suicide attacks in Baghdad on January 21, killing at least 32 people. Iraqi security forces also blame ISIS for the deadly attack on members of the "Popular Mobilization Units" (Hashd al-Shaabi) in the city of Tikrit on January 24.

The terrorist militia also claimed responsibility for the murder of two local women politicians near Al-Dashisha in northeastern Syria. The victims were Sada al-Harmoush, co-chairwoman of the Til Shair Town Civil Council, and her deputy Hind al-Khedr, who was also in charge of the economy committee. The two women had been abducted by heavily armed men on January 22. Their decapitated bodies were found hours later by the roadside.