ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Friday that they dismantled a "dangerous" Islamic State (ISIS) cell in Raqqah during a military operation.
“Following sustained surveillance and intelligence gathering on the cell’s movements and activities, our forces raided the terrorist hideout and successfully captured four dangerous terrorists,” the SDF said in a statement.
The Islamic State, which was territorially defeated in 2019, has recently sought to regain ground, taking advantage of instability in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
According to the statement the captured “terrorists confessed to carrying out several terrorist attacks, including terrorist attacks on the Internal Security Forces in Raqqa city and its surrounding countryside,” which had resulted in the killing of several individuals
In their confessions, they admitted they had carried out hit-and-run operations against the SDF.
This operation follows a recent surge in ISIS attacks and ambushes targeting SDF forces.
The SDF added that the busted ISIS cell had planned further attacks on their forces.
The capture of the ISIS group comes a day after the US military confirmed their forces killed a senior ISIS member in northwest Syria’s Idlib province earlier this week, originally reported by Syrian media.
The US-led coalition has carried out numerous raids against ISIS operatives in Idlib. ISIS emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s successor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, was killed in Atmeh in a 2022 operation conducted with Iraqi intelligence support.
ISIS rose to power and seized swathes of Iraqi and Syrian land in 2014, declaring a so-called “caliphate.” The group was declared territorially defeated in Syria in 2019, two years after its defeat in Iraq. Despite its military defeat, it continues to pose security risks, particularly in the vast eastern deserts of Syria.
Last month, an SDF spokesperson told Rudaw that an estimated 2,000 ISIS militants remain active in the Syrian desert.
The SDF is fighting to prevent the jihadists from reestablishing a foothold. On Friday, the force announced they captured 10 ISIS suspects in Deir ez-Zor after one of their own was killed and three others were injured in an ISIS attack.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented more than 84 operations carried out by ISIS cells in northeast Syria (Rojava) since the beginning of 2025. These include armed attacks, targeted killings, and bombings.
