The Islamic State group (ISIS) has announced the launch of what it described as a “new phase of operations” inside Syria, issuing a direct threat to the Syrian interim authority and its president, Ahmad al‑Sharaa, through an audio message released on Saturday evening by the group’s spokesperson Abu Hudhayfah al‑Ansari.
In the audio recording circulated on platforms affiliated with the group, al-Ansari attacked the government led by al-Sharaa, describing it as a “secular government that has apostatized from religion,” and called for fighting it, stating that al-Sharaa’s fate “will not differ from that of” Bashar al‑Assad.
The spokesperson said that Syria “has moved from Iranian rule to Turkish-American rule,” adding that “the Jolani regime is subject to American influence, and al-Jolani has been seduced by the devils of the Turks and the West.” He also described the operation dubbed “Deterrence of Aggression” as “a Turkish play directed by the United States,” claiming that “Syria is ruled by crusaders, and al-Jolani is a soulless puppet they move from in front of the curtain, not from behind it.”
The message came as the group simultaneously claimed responsibility for two attacks targeting members of the interim authority led by al-Sharaa in the north and east of the country. In a statement published through its media outlet “Dabiq News Agency,” ISIS said it targeted “a member of the apostate Syrian regime” in the city of al-Mayadin in Deir ez-Zor province using a pistol, and also attacked two soldiers with machine guns in the city of Raqqa.
For its part, the Syrian Ministry of Defense announced the killing of a soldier and a civilian in an attack carried out by “unknown assailants,” noting that the soldier belonged to the 42nd Division of the army.
This escalation comes months after political shifts in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime at the end of 2024 and the rise of a new leadership headed by al-Sharaa, who was previously a senior figure in al‑Qaeda before breaking away from it in 2016 and forming an alliance of Islamist factions.
During a visit to the United States last November, al-Sharaa signed Syria’s accession to the international coalition to defeat ISIS, where he met with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Escalating Attacks in Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor
On the ground, a member of the Internal Security Forces affiliated with the transitional government, originally from Idlib province, was killed in an armed attack targeting the “al-Sabahiya” checkpoint at the western entrance of the city of Raqqa on Sunday morning, 22 February 2026.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the attack, which is believed to have been carried out by ISIS sleeper cells, was followed by an exchange of gunfire using machine guns that resulted in the death of one of the attackers. Security forces also seized an explosive belt, hand grenades, and a machine gun that were in his possession.
This operation marks the fourth attack targeting security personnel in the region in recent weeks, amid an increase in the activity of the group’s sleeper cells in areas under the control of the interim authority.
The group had also announced the previous day that it was responsible for the killing of two members of the Syrian Ministry of Defense in the countryside of Raqqa. In addition, it claimed responsibility for the assassination of a young man from the town of Baqrus in the city of al-Mayadin in eastern Deir ez-Zor countryside, after he was shot by gunmen riding a motorcycle near the city’s sheep market.
The Syrian Observatory had also documented the killing of two members of the 42nd Division of the Syrian Ministry of Defense in the village of al-Wasita near the city of Suluk in northern Raqqa countryside, following an armed attack carried out by unknown gunmen riding a motorcycle during iftar time, in an incident believed to have been carried out by ISIS sleeper cells.
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