In Syria, in 2024, American commandos are scrambling to contain a resurgence of Islamic State where the militant group once imposed its violent religious fervor on vast territories and millions of people. Islamic State is mustering forces in Syria’s Badiya desert, training young recruits to become suicide bombers, directing attacks on allied troops and preparing to resurrect its dream of ruling an Islamist caliphate, according to officers from the U.S. and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Kurdish-led troops whom the U.S. helped to defeat the militant group five years ago.

Militant fighters have doubled their pace of attacks in Syria and Iraq in 2024. They have targeted security checkpoints, detonated car bombs and plotted to free thousands of comrades jailed since the SDF and a U.S.-headed Western coalition recaptured the last Islamic State-held town. In a little-publicized campaign, American aircraft conduct airstrikes and provide live aerial surveillance to SDF ground forces who conduct raids on suspected Islamic State cells. While they usually stay a safe distance from the fighting, elite U.S. troops sometimes conduct missions on their own to kill or capture senior Islamic State leaders…

During the first six months of 2024, Islamic State claimed responsibility for 153 attacks in Syria and Iraq. It is building its ranks by surreptitiously indoctrinating youngsters in camps that hold thousands of wives and children of detained Islamic State fighters…

Some 9,000 Islamic State fighters remain in jails across northeastern Syria, however, and the group has made no secret of its intention to free its comrades so they can return to the battlefield…There are also some 43,000 Syrian, Iraqi and other displaced people living in camps in northeastern Syria, including many wives and children of jailed Islamic State fighters whom the SDF and U.S. see as potential recruits for the next generation of militants.

At the al-Hol camp, children draw in coloring books with images of hand grenades, AK-47 rifles and explosive suicide vests. U.S. soldiers have obtained photos of Islamic State-themed children’s birthday parties, the militants’ black-and-white flag hung on the wall amid the balloons. 

Excerpt from Michael M. Phillips, In Syria’s Hinterlands, the U.S. Wages a Hidden Campaign Against a Resurgent Islamic State, WSJ, Aug. 13, 2024