Syria Regime Forces Kick off Campaign against ISIS after Deadly Ambush

Illustrative: Syrian engineering troops check for mines in the M5 highway in Aleppo, Syria, February 15, 2020. (SANA via AP)
Illustrative: Syrian engineering troops check for mines in the M5 highway in Aleppo, Syria, February 15, 2020. (SANA via AP)
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Syria Regime Forces Kick off Campaign against ISIS after Deadly Ambush

Illustrative: Syrian engineering troops check for mines in the M5 highway in Aleppo, Syria, February 15, 2020. (SANA via AP)
Illustrative: Syrian engineering troops check for mines in the M5 highway in Aleppo, Syria, February 15, 2020. (SANA via AP)

Syrian regime forces, with Russian support, kicked off a wide operation in the vast Badia (desert) in retaliation to the rising number of attacks launched by ISIS remnants in the area.

The latest attack took place in Deir Ezzor on Wednesday when ISIS ambushed a bus carrying soldiers and pro-government militias who had finished their leave and were on their way back to their base in the desolate, sparsely populated area.

Some 40 soldiers, mostly from the army’s Fourth Brigade, were killed and six others were badly wounded.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the regime, backed by the National Defense Forces and Palestinian Jerusalem Brigade militias, launched its campaign on Friday with Russian air cover.

Russian aircraft carried out dozens of strikes against ISIS positions in the region that stretches from Hama, Aleppo and al-Raqqa.

The Observatory revealed that ISIS had killed 819 regime members and allied militants throughout 2020, in ambushes, attacks and fighting. The terror group lost 507 members in these clashes and in Russian and regime air raids.



Libya's Anti-NGO Push Seen as Diversion from Internal Failures, Analysts Say

Head of Libya's Government of National Unity Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah - File Photo
Head of Libya's Government of National Unity Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah - File Photo
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Libya's Anti-NGO Push Seen as Diversion from Internal Failures, Analysts Say

Head of Libya's Government of National Unity Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah - File Photo
Head of Libya's Government of National Unity Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah - File Photo

Libya's suspension of 10 international humanitarian groups, part of a broader crackdown on African migrants, is aimed at masking domestic failures and securing external concessions, particularly from Europe, analysts have said, AFP reported.

Libya's Tripoli-based authorities announced on Wednesday a decision to suspend the Norwegian Refugee Council, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Terre des Hommes, CESVI and six other groups, accusing them of a plan to "settle migrants" from other parts of Africa in the country.

War-torn Libya is a key departure point on North Africa's Mediterranean coast for migrants, mainly from sub-Saharan African countries, risking dangerous sea voyages in the hope of reaching Europe.

Anas al-Gomati, director of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute think tank, said "this isn't about NGOs -- it's about creating enemies to distract from failures".

The UN-recognized government of Abdulhamid Dbeibah is "tapping into conservative anxieties while masking their inability to provide basic services", he told AFP.

The ultimate goal, according to Gomati, is to "extract concessions from Europe which, fearing potential migration surges, will offer new funding packages and prop up the government in Tripoli".

On Wednesday, Rome announced the allocation of 20 million euros to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to finance "voluntary repatriations" for 3,300 sub-Saharan migrants who arrived in Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.

"This isn't coincidence -- its coordination. The Libyan authorities shut down NGOs providing monitoring and protection (for migrants) precisely as Italy announces 20 million euros for 'voluntary' returns," said Gomati.

"Italy gets to claim they're funding 'voluntary' returns while Libya gets to demonstrate 'sovereignty', all while vulnerable migrants face extortion in detention before being labelled 'volunteers' for deportation."

Libya analyst Jalel Harchaoui noted that the Tripoli government is adopting a similar tone to Tunisian President Kais Saied, who in early 2023 denounced what he called "hordes of sub-Saharan migrants" who threatened to "change the country's demographic composition".

Harchaoui, of the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said Dbeibah was facing considerable difficulties, particularly in gaining access to public funds, and his once pragmatic relationship with the Haftar family in the east had deteriorated.

Following the NGO ban, aid groups have expressed concern for both their Libyan colleagues and the migrants who have been made more vulnerable in a country that, according to the IOM, is home to more than 700,000 residents from sub-Saharan countries.

The International Commission of Jurists on Friday condemned the "recent collective expulsions, arrests, violent attacks and the surge of hate speech, including that which constitutes incitement to violence, against migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Libya".

The organization noted that the Libyan interior ministry has pledged "the deportation of 100,000 migrants every four months".