ISIL

The UK’s Ministry of Defence says an underground facility likely storing ISIL weapons was the target of the attack, but the area was ‘devoid of any civilian habitation’.

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence has said its aircraft joined France in striking an underground facility in Syria that had likely been used by the ISIL (ISIS) group to store weapons, as the group appears to be resurgent after a period of relative dormancy in the region.

“Royal Air Force aircraft have completed successful strikes against Daesh in a joint operation with France,” the ministry said of the Saturday night attack in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

The statement said the area, north of the ancient site of Palmyra, was “devoid of any civilian habitation”.

The United States military in late December said it had killed or captured about 25 ISIL fighters in a wave of attacks over nine days in Syria.

The Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees the US military’s Middle East operations, issued a statement on Tuesday marking the conclusion of the operations last month.

The campaign followed the killing of two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter by an ISIL attacker in Syria on December 13, and widespread US strikes against the group six days later.

In the meantime, Turkiye’s government said on Wednesday it had detained more than 100 ISIL suspects in nationwide raids, as the group shows signs of intensified regional activity after a period of relative dormancy.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the arrests, saying Turkish authorities rounded up 125 suspects across 25 provinces, including Ankara.

The operation was the third of its kind in less than a week during the holiday season, and follows a deadly shootout on Tuesday between Turkish police and suspected ISIL members in the northwestern city of Yalova.

That clash killed three Turkish police and six suspected ISIL members, all Turkish nationals. A day later, Turkish security forces arrested 357 suspected ISIL members in a coordinated crackdown.

In 2017, when the group still held large swaths of neighbouring Syria and Iraq before being vanquished on the battlefield, ISIL attacked an Istanbul nightclub during New Year’s celebrations, killing 39 people. Istanbul prosecutor’s office said Turkish police had received intelligence that operatives were “planning attacks in Turkiye against non-Muslims in particular” this holiday season.

On top of maintaining sleeper cells in Turkiye, ISIL is still active in Syria, with which Turkiye shares a 900km (560-mile) border, and has carried out a spate of attacks there since the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad last year.

Syria has faced mounting security challenges after more than 13 years of ruinous civil war that ended late in 2024 with the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

In an exclusive interview, Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told Al Jazeera that terror groups ISIL and al-Shabab are responsible for destroying the Somali people’s livelihood and security, and says the groups opened the door to Israeli recognition of Somaliland.

The operation follows a series of clashes and attacks linked to ISIL, which is feared to be making a resurgence.

Turkiye’s government says it has detained more than 100 ISIL (ISIS) suspects in nationwide raids, as the group shows signs of intensified regional activity after a period of relative dormancy.

Turkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the Wednesday morning arrests in a social media post, saying Turkish authorities rounded up 125 suspects across 25 provinces, including Ankara.

The operation is the third of its kind in less than a week during the holiday season, and follows a deadly shootout on Tuesday between Turkish police and suspected ISIL members in the northwestern city of Yalova.

“Those who seek to harm our brotherhood, our unity, our togetherness … will only face the might of our state and the unity of our nation,” wrote Yerlikaya.

Tuesday’s clash killed three Turkish police and six suspected ISIL members, all Turkish nationals. A day later, Turkish security forces arrested 357 suspected ISIL members in a coordinated crackdown.

‘Intensifying’ anti-ISIL operations

Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul earlier this week, said Turkish forces have “intensified their operations” against ISIL sleeper cells during the holiday period, a time when the group has previously staged attacks in the country.

In 2017, when the group still held large swaths of neighbouring Syria and Iraq before being vanquished on the battlefield, ISIL attacked an Istanbul nightclub during New Year’s celebrations, killing 39 people. Istanbul prosecutor’s office said Turkish police had received intelligence that operatives were “planning attacks in Turkiye against non-Muslims in particular” this holiday season.

On top of maintaining sleeper cells in Turkiye, ISIL is still active in Syria, with which Turkiye shares a 900-kilometre (560-mile) border, and has carried out a spate of attacks there since the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad last year.

The United States military has waged extensive strikes against ISIL in central and northeastern Syria this month, killing or capturing about 25 fighters from the group over the past two weeks, according to the US Central Command.

Those operations followed the killing of two American soldiers and an interpreter in an attack in the Syrian city of Palmyra by what the US said was an ISIL gunman.

At least six suspected ISIL fighters and three Turkish police officers were killed in a shootout after police raided a home in northwestern Turkiye. It was part of a massive security sweep across several Turkish provinces targeting alleged hiding spots for ISIL operatives.

A shootout ensues after police raid a home in northwestern Yalova province, local media reports say.

Seven Turkish police officers have been wounded in a shootout during an operation against alleged ISIL (ISIS) fighters, local media report.

Broadcaster TRT Haber reported that police carried out a raid at a home in Yalova province’s Elmalik village, located south of Istanbul, when fire was exchanged on Sunday.

The officers were not seriously injured, the broadcaster reported. It was not immediately clear whether any suspects were wounded or arrested.

Special forces from nearby Bursa province joined the operation to provide support, including enacting ongoing security measures in the area.

Locals and vehicles were not allowed into the area surrounding the targeted home, the broadcaster said, while the Yalova governorate also suspended classes at five nearby schools.

On Thursday, Turkish authorities said they had conducted raids on 124 locations and apprehended 115 ISIL suspects.

Police had received intelligence that operatives were “planning attacks in Turkiye against non-Muslims in particular” during the holiday period, the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said.

The United States military also carried out extensive strikes against ISIL in neighbouring central and northeastern Syria earlier this month, hitting more than 70 targets. The strikes came a week after two US soldiers and an interpreter were killed in an attack in the Syrian city of Palmyra.

Turkiye, which shares a border with Syria, has expanded its efforts against ISIL in recent years. Turkish authorities say some ISIL operatives relocated to the country in 2019 after the group was vanquished in the parts of Iraq and Syria it then controlled.

Previous raids in March had led to the capture of nearly 300 suspected ISIL members across 47 provinces over two weeks.

Between 2013 and 2023, authorities arrested more than 19,000 people for suspected affiliations with the group, according to the Turkish presidency.

On December 13, a joint US-Syrian patrol was ambushed by a member of Syria’s own security forces near Palmyra, a city in central Syria once controlled by the ISIL (ISIS) group.

Two US soldiers and an interpreter were shot dead, and four people were wounded, before Syrian forces killed the gunman.

In the aftermath of the attack, US and Syrian officials linked the attacker to ISIL, which once controlled vast swaths of Syria and Iraq, and promised to retaliate.

The incident highlights the growing cooperation between the United States and Syria against ISIL, particularly after Damascus joined the US-backed coalition against the group in November.

While it is still unclear if the attacker was a member of ISIL or another group opposed to US-Syrian relations, analysts say that cooperation between the two countries is strong and growing stronger.

“The Syrian government is responding very robustly to fighting ISIL following US requests to do so, and it is worth noting that HTS [Hayat Tahrir al-Sham], before it was in government, had a long-term policy of fighting ISIL,” Rob Geist Pinfold, a scholar of international security at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera, referring to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s former group.

“It [HTS] did it in Idlib, and cracked down on insurgents and cells, and this is more a continuation of that policy.”

Syria’s Minister of Interior spokesman, Noureddine al-Baba, told Syria’s Al-Ikhbariah TV that there was no direct chain of command to the gunman within Syria’s internal security forces, and that he was not part of the force tasked with escorting the US forces. Investigations are under way, he added, to determine whether he had direct ties to ISIL or adopted violent ideology.

ISIL attacks down

In May 2015, ISIL took over the city of Palmyra from the former Syrian government.

Famous for its Greco-Roman ruins, the city bounced back and forth between regime forces and ISIL until the group was expelled in 2017.

In May 2017, the US-led coalition also forced the group out of Raqqa, which ISIL had declared the capital of its so-called caliphate three years earlier.

Many surviving ISIL fighters were imprisoned in the al-Hol and Roj camps in northeast Syria, controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Others escaped into the Syrian desert around Palmyra, from where they have occasionally launched attacks.

When the regime of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fell on December 8, 2024, analysts said ISIL fighters used the ensuing chaos to go into various cities across the country. In June, the group launched an attack on a church in Damascus that killed at least 25 people.

Samy Akil, a fellow at the Tahrir Institute, said recent estimates put ISIL’s manpower in Iraq and Syria at between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters.

But experts told Al Jazeera that the coordination between Damascus and Washington has improved over the last year, and pointed to the fact that Syria’s security forces have thwarted several ISIL attacks due to US-provided intelligence.

“Ahmed al-Sharaa’s new government is committed to fighting the group and, in contrast to the Assad era, al-Sharaa’s government gets regular tip-offs from US intelligence, and probably other forms of US support as well. That’s a pretty powerful combination,” Aron Lund, a research fellow at Century International, focusing on Syria, told Al Jazeera.

This collaboration has seen a decrease in ISIL attacks in Syria, according to a report by consulting firm Karam Shaar Advisory. ISIL launched an average of 63 attacks a month in 2024, while in 2025, that number dropped to 10, according to the report.

“Since HTS arrived in Damascus, collaboration [with the US] has become much easier,” Jerome Drevon, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera.

Structural flaws

After the fall of the Assad regime, there were questions over how security would be enforced. The few thousand HTS members who had previously only controlled Idlib in northwest Syria would not be enough to enforce security across the country.

Syria’s security forces undertook a serious recruitment drive, bringing in tens of thousands of new recruits to add to many of the existing former opposition battalions that were incorporated under the state’s new security apparatus.

With such a huge recruitment campaign, analysts said, vetting was a difficult task.

“The Palmyra attack points to structural flaws rather than a mere one-off event. Integration of former faction fighters and rapid new recruitment have produced uneven vetting and oversight, compounded by a permissive environment for radical views, allowing infiltration to persist,” Nanar Hawash, International Crisis Group’s senior Syria analyst, told Al Jazeera.

“Together, these factors blur early warning signs and create space for hidden threats, raising the risk of repeat attacks.”

Analysts said they expect Syrian security forces to improve the vetting process with time. Meanwhile, another attack like December 13’s was possible and could dent the US’s faith that al-Sharaa’s government can provide security in Syria.

“It could happen again due to the sheer numbers [of new recruits], but over time, the government will improve its game and be more thorough to prevent that from happening again, because it will have consequences,” Drevon said.

“We should be careful over generalising based on one attack, which can be a one-off. But if it happens again, it might change the perception of the Syrian government.”

What does ISIL want?

As for ISIL, analysts said the group’s priorities have changed since the fall of al-Assad.

“What we’re seeing now is ISIL is trying to test boundaries and conduct attacks knowing it cannot gain territorial control,” Akil said.

“It aims at destabilising and staying relevant.”

“ISIS cannot hold cities or topple governments. But it doesn’t need to. Its strength lies in destabilisation,” Hawach said. “The Palmyra attack showed that one operative with the right access can kill three US personnel and shake a bilateral relationship.”

Analysts said ISIL could destabilise Syria by targeting state security forces, religious minorities – like it did in the Damascus church attack in June – or any foreigner on Syrian soil, from US soldiers to humanitarian or United Nations workers. The group could also look to capitalise on tensions between the SDF and Damascus over disagreements on how to integrate the former into the state’s security apparatus.

The SDF also manages the al-Hol and Roj prison camps in northeast Syria, where many of ISIL’s most battle-hardened fighters and commanders are held. This could prove to be a key target for ISIL in Syria.

“ISIL thrives in those vacuums,” Hawach said.

“It’s a guerrilla insurgency, not a caliphate, but in a fragile state, that’s enough to cause serious damage.”

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

US president says ‘deadly strike’ in Nigeria targeted ISIL fighters who had killed ‘primarily, innocent Christians’.

The United ‍States ‍has carried out an air strike against ISIL (ISIS) fighters in northwest Nigeria, US ⁠President Donald Trump ​said.

“Tonight, ⁠at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and ​deadly strike ‌against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria,” ‌Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday evening.

Trump said ISIL fighters had “‌targeted and viciously” killed “primarily, innocent Christians, at ⁠levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!”

“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” Trump said.

The US military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM), which is responsible for operations in Africa, said in a post on X that the air strike was carried out “at the request of Nigerian authorities” and had killed “multiple ISIS terrorists”.

“Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media, warning also of “more to come”, without providing details.

In a statement, AFRICOM said the strike occurred in “Soboto state,” an apparent reference to Nigeria’s Sokoto state.

The US military action comes weeks after Trump said he had ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria following claims of Christian persecution in the country.

Nigeria’s government has said armed groups target both Muslim and Christian communities in the country, and US claims that Christians face persecution ‌do not represent a complex security situation and ignore efforts by Nigerian authorities to safeguard religious freedom.

Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington DC, said the threat of US military action in Nigeria had been “percolating for some time” and Donald Trump had accused Nigeria of not doing enough to protect its Christian community in his first term as president.

“But in the last two months or so, with congressional pressure and the State Department, they declared Nigeria a particular country of concern when it came to the rights of Christians and we had heard that the US had begun overflight surveillance of Nigeria from an airbase in Accra, in Ghana, over the last several weeks. And now we have this,” Rattansi said.

“On Christmas day, the Trump administration acts. This will go down very well with Trump’s Christian evangelical base, I am sure,” he said.

Trump issued his attack statement on Christmas Day while he was at ‌his Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago Club, where he has been spending the holiday.

Interior Ministry says the raid killed Mohammed Shahadeh, describing him as one of ISIL’s senior commanders in Syria.

Syrian authorities say security forces have carried out a second operation against ISIL (ISIS) fighters near Damascus, killing a senior figure described as the group’s governor of Hauran.

In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Interior said the raid killed Mohammed Shahadeh, also known as Abu Omar Shaddad, calling him one of ISIL’s senior commanders in Syria and a direct threat to local security.

Officials said the operation followed verified intelligence and extensive surveillance and was carried out by specialised units, operating in the Damascus countryside, that conducted a targeted raid in the town of al-Buweida, near Qatana, southwest of the capital.

The operation also involved the General Intelligence Directorate and took place in coordination with international coalition forces, the ministry said.

‘Crippling blow’

The announcement came a day after Syrian internal security forces arrested another senior ISIL figure in a separate operation near Damascus, according to the state-run SANA news agency.

SANA reported that forces arrested Taha al-Zoubi during what it described as a “tightly executed security operation” in the Damascus countryside. The agency said officers seized “a suicide belt and a military weapon” during the arrest.

Brigadier General Ahmad al-Dalati, head of internal security in the Damascus countryside, told SANA that the raid targeted an ISIL hideout in Maadamiya, southwest of the capital.

ISIL, which considers the current authorities in Damascus illegitimate, has largely focused its remaining operations on Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria.

At the height of its power, the armed group controlled vast areas of Iraq and Syria, declaring Raqqa its capital.

Although ISIL suffered military defeat in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, its cells continue to carry out attacks in the region and beyond, including in parts of Africa and Afghanistan.

Syrian officials confirm the arrest of ISIL leader Taha al-Zoubi in a security operation near Damascus.

Syria’s Ministry of Interior has announced the arrest of Taha al-Zoubi, a leading figure in the ISIL (ISIS) group, in the Damascus countryside, the country’s SANA news agency reported.

The report said a “tightly executed security operation” was carried out that led to the arrest of al-Zoubi, adding that “a suicide belt and a military weapon were seized in his possession”.

SANA quoted Brigadier General Ahmad al-Dalati, head of internal security in the Damascus countryside, as saying the raid targeted an ISIL hideout in Maadamiya, southwest of Damascus, and was carried out “in cooperation” with an anti-ISIL alliance that includes the United States-led coalition fighting the group.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) has not publicly confirmed the operation.

Al-Dalati said al-Zoubi, also known as Abu Omar Tibiya, served as the group’s “wali”,or governor, of Damascus and that several alleged aides were also detained.

The official added that the arrest dealt a “crippling blow” to ISIL networks in the capital region and showed the “readiness of the security apparatus”.

“We send a clear message to anyone who dares to engage in the project of terrorism or lend support to ISIS: The hand of justice will reach them wherever they are,” al-Dalati said.

ISIL, which views the new government in Damascus as illegitimate, has mainly concentrated its activities against Kurdish forces in the north.

At its peak, ISIL ruled an area half the size of the United Kingdom, spanning across Iraq and Syria, with Raqqa in the latter being the capital of the armed group’s self-declared “caliphate”.

The group was notorious for its brutality, carrying out massacres of Syrians and Iraqis and beheadings of foreign captives.

ISIL was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, but its fighters and cadres of armed group members still carry out deadly attacks in both countries and elsewhere, including in Africa and Afghanistan.