Syria busts terrorist cell planning attacks

DAMASCUS — Syria said on Sunday that its forces had arrested four leaders and several members of an ISIS cell that was planning attacks inside the country.Security and intelligence forces “dismantled a cell affiliated with the ISIS terrorist organization that was involved in carrying out kidnappings, planting explosive devices, and assassinations”, state television reported the internal security forces as saying.“Four leaders of the cell,” the statement said, were arrested in north Syria’s Raqa “alongside a number of its members in Aleppo, Idlib and Homs.”The cell was also “planning terrorist acts targeting the security and stability of the region,” it said, adding that explosives, weapons and ammunition were seized in the “pre-emptive operation,” with investigations ongoing.Last year, Syria’s new authorities, who ousted longtime ruler Bashar Assad in 2024, joined a US-led coalition against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as Daesh.The authorities have faced significant security challenges, and regularly announce the arrest of ISIS commanders or members, including the capture last month of a commander in the country’s north.Once in control of swathes of Syria and Iraq, ISIS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019, but remnants of the group are still present there, particularly in the country’s vast desert.The group occasionally claims attacks, mainly targeting Syrian security forces.Syria has blamed the extremists for bomb blasts in July during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron. Authorities said they had arrested the cell responsible.Meanwhile, Syrian security forces have announced the arrest of Brig. Gen. Jaber Mehrez Ibrahim, a former commander under the ousted Bashar Assad regime.The Syrian Arab News Agency reported that Ibrahim was detained after a “precise surveillance and tracking operation.” He commanded the brigade in the town of Saida, in eastern Daraa province.Records and preliminary investigations allege he issued orders to kill and arrest people and suppress protesters. He also allegedly took part in military campaigns targeting villages and towns in eastern Daraa countryside, pursuing civilians and attacking their homes.Investigators also said he was directly responsible for the Saida Housing massacre, in which nearly 120 people were killed, according to SANA.