An old shipping container lies buried in the sprawling desert, in Syria's Deir Ezzor. A slope has been cut into the sand, leading to the doors, creating a hidden structure in this scrub-dotted plateau.
About a dozen Syrian security troops gather around the ramp that is half-filled with sand due to recent bombing, as they inspect this damaged “bunker”, their dark silhouettes stark against the cloudless sky.
“These were used by ISIS to stock weapons and money,” one of the personnel says.
Shrapnel is scattered across the parched land, amid tufts of vegetation and desert rocks. There are other similar structures in the area.
The site, a former ISIS position in the remote Tabni region of western Deir Ezzor, was struck by US forces shortly before The National visited in January under escort of troops from Syria's Ministry of Interior.
Security personnel tell The National that while the desert positions, once a strategic asset for ISIS, have long been abandoned, the US strikes ensured they could never be used again by any armed group.
The offensive was part of a series of operations conducted by the US and its partners against ISIS networks, weapons depots and operatives. It was launched after a gunman linked to ISIS killed two US soldiers and an interpreter in December.
Known as Operation Hawkeye Strike, the campaign has hit more than 100 ISIS installations and weapons sites and killed an Al Qaeda-linked leader tied to the attacker, US officials said.
And, for the first time, Syria, which joined the international coalition against ISIS last year, is part of the global effort to contain the group’s threat. US President Donald Trump said the Syrian government was “fully in support” of the retaliatory strikes.
America continued to conduct strikes against ISIS sleeper cells in Syria even after the group’s territorial defeat in 2019. But under the Bashar Al Assad regime, these operations were carried out without co-operation from Damascus.
Now, “Syria is back on our side”, US envoy Tom Barrack said, following an anti-ISIS raid in Damascus last year conducted with the support of local security forces.
Charles Lister, director of the Syria and counter-terrorism and anti-extremism programmes at the Middle East Institute, says senior US officials described the recent co-operation between Syria and Washington on counterterrorism as “game-changing.”
Behind the scenes, the US has built a resilient intelligence and security relationship with Syrian authorities, Mr Lister says.
The tie-up works through Syria’s Interior Ministry and General Intelligence Directorate, with US personnel deployed almost full-time in the capital to share intelligence.
US and Syrian forces have carried out at least 11 joint operations, he adds, while Syrian forces have launched dozens of raids based on US intelligence sharing.
“Ultimately, that’s precisely the kind of relationship the US government wants to achieve; one where the local government undertakes operations itself, but in the shared interest of the US,” Mr Lister tells The National.
US pull-out
As it strengthens ties with the Syrian authorities, Washington is also delegating operational tasks on the ground to Damascus. Last week, it withdrew from Al Tanf, a US outpost established in 2016 to plan and conduct coalition operations against ISIS.
On Thursday, Syrian Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra spoke to US Maj Gen Kevin Lambert to discuss the Al Tanf pull-out. The base, located deep in the Syrian Desert near the borders with Iraq and Jordan, was one of the few US bases outside Kurdish-held north-eastern Syria. It remained outside the control of the Assad regime throughout the civil war.
The National visited the base twice since the fall of the regime, where commanders stressed the importance of US technology and aerial surveillance capabilities in tracking ISIS sleeper cells.
The US-Syria security partnership against ISIS signals a dramatic shift in Washington’s military strategy, moving away from its long-time ally, the Kurdish-led forces in north-eastern Syria, as it urges Damascus to assume greater security responsibilities.
The US has pressed the Kurdish-led force, once its most loyal anti-ISIS partner on the ground, to integrate into the centrally controlled army, arguing that its anti-ISIS mission is no longer relevant.
The Kurdish-led administration, which once controlled 25 per cent of Syrian territory, reluctantly agreed to an integration deal last month after a blitz by Damascus.
Evolving threats
Now, the question remains whether Syria has the capacity to contain the risk of an ISIS resurgence on the ground, amid fears the extremist group could stage a comeback by exploiting the country’s political transition, marked by repeated spasms of violence.
The group remains a danger to local communities and international security, but its nature has morphed since the downfall of the Assad regime.
Experts and Syrian security officials tell The National that ISIS operatives, once based in the vast Badia desert stretching into Deir Ezzor province, have leapt into urban areas, returning to their hometowns near major cities including Aleppo, Hama and Damascus.
The Badia desert, and its vast, arid land that The National travelled through for hours in the company of camels striding along the roadside and rare lorries, has long provided an ideal environment for ISIS hideouts.
In Tebni, Syrian security personnel say the area has been fully secured. “We patrol every day and night to ensure the area is under complete control and that Daesh is not present at the moment,” says Abu Al Haytham, a local officer, speaking to The National.
On the other hand, Mr Lister says, urban cells have become “increasingly active” in recent months, carrying out attacks targeting government forces and minority communities.
Saraya Ansar Al Sunna, described as a front organisation for ISIS, claimed several attacks in Syria last year, including a suicide bombing at a church in Damascus that killed at least 25 people, and an explosion at a mosque in Homs, an Alawite-majority site, which killed at least eight people.
Mr Lister adds that 13 plots have been foiled, most of them “thanks to US-Syrian co-ordination”.
A decisive test
But concerns remain over the ability of Syria’s Islamist leadership to confront ISIS, given its radical past. President Ahmad Al Shara, who led a faction that split from a group formerly affiliated with Al Qaeda, has shown pragmatism, vowing to protect minorities and embracing inclusivity. But bursts of violence have raised concerns over how long the country’s progress on security might last.
Syrian troops, made up of rebel factions that toppled the Assad regime, still include hardline fighters, and have been accused of taking part in massacres against minorities, including the Alawite community in March and the Druze in June last year.
The gunman who killed the three US personnel in Palmyra was a member of Syria’s security forces who was set to be dismissed due to his extremist views shortly before the attack took place, US and Syrian officials said.
US officials did not blame the Syrian government for the attack, instead describing it as an act of extremist violence.
The ISIS issue will be a real test for Syria’s new authorities, with Mr Trump making it one of his top priorities as Washington initiates a historic rapprochement with the former pariah state.
For Mr Lister, the early signs are encouraging. He says that over the past year, at least 24 ISIS commanders have been killed or captured, including three senior leadership figures, by Syria’s Ministry of Interior and its specialised counterterrorism units.
“It will be the neutralising of ISIS leadership that truly challenges the group’s ability to resurge,” he said.
