Syria arrests two alleged Islamic State members

Syrian authorities said Sunday that they arrested two alleged members of the Islamic State group in Deir Ezzor, accusing them of targeted killings in eastern Syria.

Internal security forces said the two people were arrested after intelligence surveillance. They accused them of carrying out a series of assassinations in Deir Ezzor governorate, including the targeting of Ministry of Defence member Ibrahim al-Jassem in the city of Mayadin.

Syria's current authorities have announced regular arrests of suspected Islamic State members and affiliated cells since coming to power in late 2024 after toppling Bashar al-Assad.

The Islamic State group seized large areas of Syria and Iraq in 2014, but lost its last territorial holdings in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019. The weakened group still occasionally claims attacks, including against Syrian security forces.

Syrian authorities blamed the group for a bombing in Damascus during French President Emmanuel Macron's visit in July and said they had dismantled the cell responsible.

A report presented to the United Nations Security Council in July said Islamic State had about 3,000 combatants in Syria and that several attacks against Syrian officials, including President Ahmed al-Sharaa, had been thwarted.