JERUSALEM – U.S.-led air strikes in Syria have killed more than 1,000 jihadists in the past three months, almost all of them from Islamic State (ISIS), according to a new report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Yet at the same time Islamic State continues to take over more Syrian territory, with battles focused around the largest city of Aleppo in northern Syria near the Turkish border, and Deir Ezzour, an oil-rich area closer to Iraq.
“If Aleppo falls to ISIS or to the rebels, that would be a game changer,” Lina Khatib, a Syrian expert at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, told The Media Line.
ISIS controls part of Aleppo, and there has been heavy fighting around Deir Ezzour for several months.
Nearly four years after the civil war began in Syria, the country is almost equally divided, she said, between an area still controlled by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, part of the “Islamic caliphate” in Syria and Iraq controlled by Islamic State, and one-third of the country controlled by various rebel groups including the Nusra Front and the Free Syrian Army.
“Islamic State continues to try to take over more areas close to Iraq and Turkey,” Khatib said. “They have made gains and taken over more villages but not areas that are strategically significant.”
Assad has done little to combat the spread of the radical group, she said, focusing his efforts on fighting the Syrian rebel groups. At the same time, Syria’s neighbor Israel has been closely watching developments in the Golan Heights, where Islamic State has approached the border.
“The instability on our border has been a dominant feature for the past two years,” Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner told The Media Line. “We are preparing ourselves if any of the radical organizations decide to attack Israel.”
Lerner said the preparation included replacing Israeli reservists, who serve for one month each year, with regular soldiers who are stationed in the area for longer periods of time. Israel has also recently completed a “substantial barrier” to prevent infiltration.
Earlier this week Syria said it shot down an Israeli drone near the Golan Heights. The Israeli army would not confirm the reports. In addition, the UN recently urged Syria and rebel groups to stop fighting in the Golan Heights, part of which has been annexed by Israel, fearing the fighting could spill over into Israel. Earlier this month, Israel reportedly attacked two sites in Syria to prevent Iranian weapons from reaching Hizbullah guerillas in Lebanon.
(The Media Line)