Specialized units in the Syrian Ministry of Interior carried out security operations that resulted in the arrest of a prominent leader of the terrorist organization ISIS and a number of its top officials.

The Ministry of Interior announced that it carried out, in cooperation with the General Intelligence Directorate, a series of qualitative security operations that resulted in dismantling several cells affiliated with the terrorist organization ISIS in the southern region, and arresting the prominent leader of the organization known as Firas al-Daghir, and a number of those most responsible for assassinations and financing.

Firas al-Daghir, 'Wali of Lebanon and Palestine' and personal companion of the 'Caliph of the organization' (Syrian Interior Ministry)

Investigations showed that al-Daghir progressed through leadership positions within the organization; starting from his assumption of what is called the 'Jaidur Sector' and the 'Western Region', until he became what is called 'Wali of Lebanon and Palestine', then worked as a personal companion to the 'Caliph of the organization'.

The investigations revealed the involvement of the cells in a number of assassination and robbery crimes, which targeted a number of goldsmiths in Daraa governorate, and the disposal of stolen gold to secure the necessary funding for the organization to cover its terrorist activities.

The detainees also confessed to assassinating two members of the Ministry of Interior, in addition to carrying out an assassination attempt inside a barbershop that resulted in the death of a civilian, as well as their involvement in monitoring a person and his wife before eliminating them.

The necessary legal procedures have been taken against the detainees, and they have been referred to the competent judiciary to complete the legal procedures and impose just punishment.

The ISIS organization had claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the killing of Rashad Khalaf al-Ghurair, from the village of Ruwaished north of Deir ez-Zor countryside, claiming that its members stormed his home and killed him by slitting his throat, on the charge that he was a 'sorcerer'.

The Syrian Ministry of Defense announced on June 20 that two soldiers were killed in an attack carried out by unknown gunmen near the city of Manbij northeast of Aleppo in northwestern Syria, without providing further details, two days after a similar attack targeted a bus of the Ministry of Defense carried out by unknown persons on the Tal Tamr - Ras al-Ayn road in Hasaka countryside.

A security campaign in Deir ez-Zor governorate targeting ISIS positions in November 2025 (Syrian Interior Ministry)

Days earlier, the ISIS organization had also claimed responsibility for an explosion of an adhesive bomb that targeted the car of the head of the Justice Palace department in the town of Babila in Damascus countryside, Salah Ahmad al-Saleh, while he was passing through the Daf al-Shouk neighborhood south of Damascus; which led to his severe injury resulting in the amputation of one of his legs.

The ISIS organization claimed responsibility for an attack targeting a camp belonging to the Syrian Ministry of Interior in the city of Raqqa, which resulted in the death of an internal security forces member and the injury of three others, according to a statement published by the organization on June 16. The claim came one day after the Syrian Ministry of Interior announced the foiling of an attack carried out by two members of the organization on the headquarters of the Internal Security Forces in Raqqa.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on platform X that the US military carried out an airstrike in northwestern Syria on June 19, which resulted in the killing of a prominent leader of the ISIS organization.

CENTCOM considered that 'this precise strike that resulted in the killing of Ali Hussein al-Alaywi is part of the ongoing US efforts to disrupt and eliminate terrorists who seek to attack Americans abroad or within the United States, as CENTCOM forces continue to work side by side with regional partners'.

The following day, the extremist organization claimed responsibility for an attack near the city of Manbij in Aleppo, an attack that the Syrian Ministry of Defense said resulted in the deaths of two soldiers.

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