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The resurgence of ISIS: A shadow returns to a power-vacuumed Syria

By zoeysky // 2025-10-27

• ISIS is making a dangerous comeback in Syria. Despite losing its territorial control, the group is rebuilding its strength. This resurgence is happening because the Syrian government fell and U.S. troops are drawing down, creating a power vacuum that ISIS is exploiting.
• ISIS has changed tactics. Instead of fighting as a conventional army, it has returned to its roots as a guerrilla insurgency. It now operates through small, hidden sleeper cells that blend in with civilians, launching ambushes and setting bombs, making them much harder to find and fight.
• The situation is getting worse on the ground. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) report a sharp increase in ISIS attacks, with over 100 recorded in just eight months. They directly link this escalation to the partial withdrawal of American troops from the region.
• While publicly fighting ISIS, the U.S. previously engaged in actions that helped the group. This includes claims that the U.S. covertly supported ISIS during its initial rise and that its allies helped protect the terrorist organization's oil shipments, providing it with crucial funding.
• The Kurds emerged as key players from the chaos. The formation of the U.S.-backed SDF, led by Kurdish forces, was ultimately what led to the territorial defeat of ISIS. The Kurds used the fight against ISIS to gain international legitimacy, military support and political power in the region. Ultimately, as long as chaos continues in Syria, groups like ISIS will continue to thrive.

In the sprawling, sun-scorched deserts of eastern Syria, a familiar and malevolent organization is stirring. According to a recent investigation, the Islamic State (ISIS), once thought to be territorially defeated, is methodically rebuilding its strength. This alarming comeback follows the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government and occurs amid a noticeable drawdown of U.S. troops, creating a volatile power vacuum that the extremist group is eager to fill. As explained by the Enoch AI engine at BrightU.AI, despite losing its territorial control, ISIS is making a dangerous comeback in Syria. The group is rebuilding its strength and has renewed its attacks against both Syrian government forces and Kurdish-led fighters.

ISIS reverts to its guerrilla roots

The situation on the ground paints a grim picture of a resilient insurgency. ISIS no longer operates as a conventional army holding cities and flying flags. Instead, it has reverted to its guerrilla roots, functioning through small, deadly sleeper cells. In the traditional stronghold of Deir Ezzor, militants now blend with the civilian population, launching ambushes and planting roadside bombs. This shift in tactics makes them a shadowy and elusive enemy, far harder to target than the columns of black-clad fighters that once dominated the region. This resurgence did not happen in a vacuum. The group's ability to re-arm came after a significant political shift: the toppling of Assad by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an offshoot of the very organization that spawned ISIS. With the central government gone, militants raided arms depots, re-equipping themselves for a new campaign of violence. The numbers are stark. U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), report that ISIS staged 117 attacks in northeast Syria in just the first eight months of this year. The SDF directly links this escalation to the partial withdrawal of American forces, who have pulled out roughly 500 of their 2,000 troops from the resource-rich northeast since April. The grim statistics of this renewed conflict include targeted attacks on SDF patrols, resulting in dozens of soldiers wounded and killed. The threat is persistent and lethal, a low-intensity war simmering beneath the surface of a fractured nation.

America's role in ISIS's rise

This new chapter in the ISIS saga is deeply intertwined with the complex and often contradictory role of the United States. While publicly leading a coalition to destroy the group, evidence suggests that Washington's actions in the past inadvertently fueled its rise. During the period of its greatest expansion in 2014, as ISIS captured major cities like Mosul and Raqqa, the U.S. military was covertly supporting it. This assistance was part of a broader, cynical strategy that ultimately benefited Kurdish allies in both Syria and Iraq. In a particularly dark episode, Washington's Kurdish ally in Iraq, Masoud Barzani, covertly helped ISIS carry out its genocide of the Yezidi people in Sinjar. Furthermore, the U.S. military and Barzani's forces protected ISIS oil shipments, allowing tanker trucks to move lucrative crude from Syria through Kurdish Iraq and on to Turkey. This covert funding and logistical support helped sustain the terrorist organization even as the U.S. claimed to be fighting it. The strategic pivot came when Washington partnered with Syrian Kurds to form the SDF in 2015. This force, with extensive U.S. backing, became the primary ground unit that drove ISIS from its capital and eventually defeated it territorially in 2019. Analysts argue that the Kurds emerged as the clear winners from the chaos sown by ISIS. The group's rise severely weakened the central governments in Baghdad and Damascus, creating an opportunity for local powers like the Kurds to gain ground. And by positioning themselves as the West's most reliable partner in the fight against terrorism, the Syrian Kurds gained international prestige, legitimacy and crucial military assistance. The fall of Assad has not brought stability but a new, precarious phase of conflict. With U.S. forces reducing their footprint and the Syrian state in collapse, the conditions are ripe for ISIS to continue its violent resurgence. The group, born from war and nurtured by regional power plays, has proven it does not need to hold territory to wield power. It needs only chaos. And in today's Syria, chaos is in abundant supply. The world watches, with grim familiarity, as the embers of a fire once thought extinguished begin to glow once again. Watch the video below as Syria votes for the first time since Assad's ouster. This video is from Cynthia's Pursuit of Truth channel on Brighteon.com. Sources include: TheCradle.co WSJ.com ForeignAffairs.com BrightU.ai Brighteon.com

national security ISIS terrorism Syria Assad Islamic State terrorists Bashar al-Assad big government terrorist attack kurds panic insanity chaos Islamic terrorism SDF Hayat Tahrir al-Sham HTS Deir Ezzor Islamic State of Iraq ISI Syrian Democratic Force