BAGHDAD: “We’ve been attacked on an almost daily basis since we were deployed here,” Mohammed Al-Shimary, an artillery battalion commander deployed along the Iraqi-Syrian border in western Mosul, told Arab News.
“Our artillery is pointed toward Syrian territory because the attacks have been launched from the Syrian side,” he said.
In the latest attack, militants in pickup trucks equipped with machine-guns opened fire at the battalion in an attempt to enter Iraq.
Several militants were killed, a vehicle was destroyed and another was damaged, Al-Shimary said. The surviving militants fled. A similar attack took place in the same area a week earlier.
The militants “are desperate to cross into Iraq. There’s no direct fighting, but hit-and-run attacks,” Al-Shimary said.
“In such attacks, using artillery is much faster than waiting for the air force, so we’ve deployed our artillery along the border for more than 100 km.”
The Iraqi-Syrian border is more than 600 km long. The vast desert on both sides is dotted by long valleys and large caves.
Earlier this month, Iraq declared the full liberation of its territories from Daesh, which at one point controlled almost a third of the country.
But Iraqi military commanders and officials say hundreds of Daesh fighters have mysteriously disappeared without fighting, especially in areas that were formerly the command and control headquarters of the terror group, raising questions about where and when they will resurface.
“The information we got from Daesh leaders who we captured in Mosul suggests that there were at least 700 militants who fled the combat zones,” Falih Al-Khaza’ali, commander of the Brigades of the Martyrs, one of the Shiite-dominated Popular Mobilization Units, told Arab News.
“They had three options: Travel to Syria or Turkey; disguise themselves, or turn into sleeper cells,” he said.
“Those who fled took refuge in many places that haven’t been cleared yet. They are mainly in the western desert of Anbar, Hawija and the southern areas of Kirkuk with some areas extending along the Hemrin Mountains.”
Ahmed Assadi, the commander of Jund Al-Emam who is the former spokesman of the PMU, along with several intelligence and military officers, agreed with Khaza’ali.
The US-led coalition said most of the 40,000 foreigners and locals who joined Daesh in Iraq have been killed, with fewer than 1,000 fighters remaining in the desert area along the border with Syria. But Iraqi officers and security officials dispute these figures.
“These numbers aren’t even close to the numbers from our intelligence sources,” a senior officer told Arab News on condition of anonymity. “It was funny. They were just gone with the wind in some areas,” he said sarcastically.
Fadhil Abu Raghaif, an Iraqi expert on radical armed groups, told Arab News: “No more than 25 percent of the fighters were killed.”
“The problem is that most of the militants were neither locally or internationally registered so it was very easy for them to evaporate,” he said. “Some of them (the foreigners) have returned to their countries; some (the locals) went back to their previous lives. Most of them returned to the desert.”
Iraqi security, military and local officials who were contacted by Arab News said that the militants who fled took refuge in the border towns of Zanghorah, Turabail, Ruttba, Qaem and Annah in western Anbar; some in villages between Salahudeen and Diyala provinces while the rest returned to Horran, Hussienat, Ghadhaf and Um Al-Shababiek valleys in the desert of Anbar.
Anbar’s local officials told Arab News that there were large concealed and fully equipped camps which were set up by Al-Qaeda in 2004 and 2005 inside the deep long valleys of the western desert of Anbar. The biggest camp is in Horan, officials said. Daesh is Al-Qaeda’s offshoot; most of its prominent leaders were first Al-Qaeda leaders. Daesh has inherited all the tactics, weapons and headquarters of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria.
Iraq on Dec. 9 announced the liberation of western Anbar province. But “Daesh’s presence in the desert (of Anbar) isn’t a secret,” Ibrahim Al-Awssaj, the mayor of Anbar’s capital Ramadi, told Arab News.
“Its military presence in the big cities and towns has ended, but it’s difficult to terminate Daesh as an ideology … specifically in this part of the country (Anbar),” he said.
“Until now, the Iraqi government has focused on stopping car bombs, but it has to focus on stopping the ideological bomb,” he added. “Daesh could come back at any minute.”
Whereabouts of missing Daesh fighters raises Iraqi concerns
Whereabouts of missing Daesh fighters raises Iraqi concerns
2025: The most successful year in Syrian history since 1970
- First year without Bashar Assad brought sweeping diplomatic gains and sanctions relief
- War-torn nation re-entered global forums, saw sanctions lifted even as scars persisted
LONDON: One year after the fall of Bashar Assad, Syrians are holding fast to hope as 2025 emerges as the country’s most diplomatically successful year in about five decades, marked by renewed international engagement and regional reintegration, even as the legacy of repression and war remains deeply etched into daily life.
The scale of that change is best understood against the longevity of the rule that preceded it. Modern Syria was shaped by more than five decades of Assad family dominance, beginning when Hafez Assad, then defense minister, seized power in a military coup on Nov. 16, 1970.
He formally became president in March 1971, inaugurating an era of centralized authority and political repression that would persist through his son’s presidency.
Over the following decades, Syria drifted deeper into rigid Cold War alignments, recurrent confrontations with its neighbors and, eventually, entrenched international isolation. That trajectory hardened under both Hafez and Bashar Assad, leaving little room for political reform and laying the groundwork for the uprising that erupted in 2011.
But today, post-Assad optimism was on display earlier this month, when thousands gathered in cities including Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo to mark the anniversary of Assad’s downfall.
In Damascus’s Umayyad Square, crowds danced to an Arabic song repeating the chorus, “Raise your head up high, you’re a free Syrian,” reflecting aspirations shaped by nearly 14 years of civil war.
Behind the public celebrations, analysts say Assad’s removal opened a rare historical window.
“Syria has opened a new chapter that many once thought impossible,” Nanar Hawach, a senior Syria analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Arab News. “Diplomatic ties are rebuilding, investment is returning, and the country is beginning to shake off years of isolation.”
Even so, he added, the country’s future hinges on developments at home. “To maintain this momentum, the government needs to focus internally: prioritizing day-to-day security and building trust with all communities.
“External support remains vital, but lasting peace will depend on Syrians feeling safe, included, and represented in the new order they are working to build.”
That view is shared by Comfort Ero, the ICG’s president and CEO. “Syria has made incredible strides forward on the international stage in the past year — forging partnerships, attracting funding and securing the easing of some of its most crippling sanctions,” she told Arab News. “But its future now depends on what happens at home.”
Indeed, the past year brought a wave of diplomatic normalization. Syria restored regional and international ties, saw US and European sanctions lifted or suspended, and rejoined major global forums.
The war-weary country reappeared at high-profile gatherings including the Arab League Summit in Baghdad, the Russian-Arab Summit, the World Economic Forum in Davos, and the Doha Forum.
That momentum culminated in November with interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House, the first such visit by a Syrian leader since independence from France in 1946.
During the trip, Syria formally joined the US-led Global Coalition Against Daesh, days after the US Treasury removed Al-Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda supporter who once had a $10 million bounty for his capture, from its Specially Designated Global Terrorist sanctions list.
Similarly, the UN Security Council adopted on Nov. 6 a US-backed resolution delisting Al-Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Hasan Khattab, a move widely seen as a powerful signal of international recognition of Syria’s political transition.
These diplomatic gains followed the dramatic moment on Dec. 8, 2024, when Assad fled to Moscow as a coalition of rebel groups, led by Al-Sharaa, then-commander of the armed group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, seized Damascus in a lightning offensive.
Within two months, the new military command named Al-Sharaa transitional president, repealed the 2012 constitution, and dissolved the regime’s parliament, army, and security agencies.
In March, he signed a draft constitutional declaration establishing a five-year transitional period and announced a transitional cabinet.
Economic relief soon followed. The EU suspended major sanctions; the UK lifted asset freezes and most sanctions; and the US ended its comprehensive sanctions program and twice suspended the Caesar Act before permanently repealing it on Dec. 17 — a move many believe will facilitate foreign investment and speed reconstruction.
The Caesar Act had long blocked Syrian banks from accessing the global financial system, restricting external transfers and limiting correspondent banking relationships. Its repeal marked the culmination of a sustained diplomatic push led by Riyadh.
In May, during a high-level visit to Saudi Arabia, US President Donald Trump announced from Riyadh the lifting of sanctions on Syria and met the following day with Al-Sharaa. Around the same time, Saudi Arabia and Qatar paid off Syria’s $15.5 million World Bank debt.
Investment activity soon accelerated. In July and August, Syria had signed 47 investment agreements worth more than $6.4 billion with Saudi companies and secured $14 billion in deals with companies from Qatar, the UAE, Italy, and Turkiye, targeting transport, infrastructure, and real estate.
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Diplomatic engagement continued into the fall. In September, Al-Sharaa addressed the UN General Assembly — the first Syrian head of state to do so since 1967. He pledged accountability and national rebuilding.
While in New York, he held meetings across diplomatic and policy circles, including a highly symbolic discussion with former CIA director David Petraeus.
Assad’s fall and early signs of recovery have also encouraged many displaced people to return to their original towns and villages.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 1.2 million Syrians have voluntarily returned from neighboring countries since December 2024, alongside nearly 1.9 million internally displaced people who have gone back to their home areas.
At the same time, Syrians with the means to do so are reopening small businesses and rebuilding homes, even without reliable public services and amid widespread destruction.
Marking the anniversary of Assad’s fall on Dec. 7, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the international community to “stand firmly behind this Syrian-led, Syrian-owned transition,” stressing the need for sustained humanitarian support, fewer barriers to reconstruction, and backing for economic recovery.
“On this anniversary,” he said, “we stand united in purpose — to build a foundation of peace and prosperity and renew our pledge to a free, sovereign, united, and inclusive Syria.”
