The key facts

  • The General Intelligence Directorate, together with internal security forces, eliminated an ISIS cell in Aleppo province, an Anadolu source reports
  • The number of detainees, the areas where the cell operated, and details of the attacks are not disclosed
  • This continues a series of operations against ISIS from July and September 2026

The cell was eliminated by intelligence and internal security forces

Syrian authorities announced the dismantling of a cell linked to the 'Islamic State' (ISIS, banned in a number of countries) in the northern province of Aleppo. According to an unnamed source of the Anadolu agency, the operation was carried out by the General Intelligence Directorate together with internal security forces. The cell, it is claimed, was involved in 'a series of attacks and killings' in the province.

Details of the operation are not disclosed

The source did not name the number of detained cell members, the areas of Aleppo where they operated, or the details of the attacks and killings attributed to them. Thus, the scale and actual activity of the group remain unconfirmed by independent data — the report relies on the words of a single source speaking on the state TV channel Alikhbariah.

The series of operations against ISIS has continued since the summer

This is not the first such action by Syrian security services in recent months. On September 27, authorities reported the elimination of an ISIS cell whose activity began in Raqqa and then spread to Aleppo, Idlib and Homs: according to the SANA agency, its members were engaged in kidnappings, planting explosive devices and killings; four leaders were detained in Raqqa, several more members in other provinces, and explosives prepared for attacks were seized. Earlier, on July 28, Interior Ministry spokesman Nureddin al-Baba announced the arrest of members of two ISIS cells in Aleppo, which, according to him, operated in the Al-Bab and Al-Rai districts: one killed a guard at a state facility and attempted to attack a defense ministry employee, while the other, it is claimed, was preparing attacks on military personnel and government institutions. The context of these operations is Damascus's accession in November 2025 to the US-led international coalition against ISIS, established in 2014, which conducts operations against the group in Syria and Iraq.