Sleeper Cell Report March 2025 – ISIS military emir arrested in NES, while deputy caliph killed in Iraq

Key points

  • 15 confirmed sleeper cell attacks; up from 7 in February
  • Two military personnel killed, two others injured in ISIS attacks
  • 17 suspected ISIS members arrested, up from 14 last month
  • Repatriations from Austria and Iraq occur, while concerns over security in al-Hol camp prompt EU-level meeting
  • Moroccan girl strangled to death after being severely beaten in Roj camp

In depth

This month, RIC recorded 15 sleeper cell attacks in NES; up from 7 in February. These attacks killed two military personnel and injured a further two. Most of these attacks happened in the Deir ez-Zor canton. In this month’s raids conducted by NES’ security forces, supported by the International Coalition, 17 suspected ISIS members were arrested, including several senior figures.

This month sleeper cell attacks primarily targeted military positions, striking SDF and Asayish headquarters and posts. On March 1, an ISIS cell attacked several SDF positions in Deir ez-Zor, leaving only material damage. Further attacks on military posts came on the 3, 8 and 26 of the month. Civilian targets included the public prosecution office in al-Basira, Deir ez-Zor, which came under attack on March 2, again with no casualties. Similar strikes occurred on March 3, 8, 22 and 24: sleeper cell gunmen opened fire on several civilian houses plus the house of an SDF fighter, with no casualties reported. The first casualty event of the month came on March 10, when an SDF member was shot dead by a sleeper cell operative. Two weeks later, a civilian working at a money exchange office in Deir ez-Zor was also killed in an ISIS attack. On the 27th of the month, several shops in Deir ez-Zor came under sleeper cell fire. Meanwhile in Raqqa, ISIS sleeper cells attacked an SDF checkpoint on March 10. On the same day, one member of the Asayish was killed and two others were injured in a sleeper cell attack while on a patrol.

This month, the SDF and Asayish conducted eight counter-ISIS raids, some with Coalition backing. The most prominent arrest of the month came on March 21. An ISIS military emir, Raafat Rahmoun, also known as Abu Sohaib Al-Adnany, was apprehended. On March 12, SDF Military Operations Teams (TOL) conducted a raid in al-Basira town, eastern Deir ez-Zor countryside, arresting Khaled Murbad Ebaid, also known as Abu Amir, reportedly responsible for distributing weapons and ammunition among ISIS cells in the area.

SDF TOL arrest ISIS operative Khaled Murbad Ebaid in Deir ez-Zor

Outside of NES, a top ISIS leader was also killed in Iraq this month, in a joint Iraqi-Coalition operation. Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, known as ‘Abu Khadijah’, was presumed to be the deputy caliph of ISIS and the so-called Wali of Iraq and Syria. The US has significantly widened the scope of its counter-ISIS operations in Syria since the fall of Assad, filling the vacuum left by Russia’s departure. The US-led Coalition has been conducting aerial patrols as far south as Suwayda. However, one extremism research analyst this month argued that rather than focus solely on ISIS’ ability – or lack of – to carry out attacks in Syria itself, the US “should be far more concerned with ISIS’ efforts to exploit the normalization of Salafi-Jihadism under the country’s new regime, which the group could use as cover to spread its ideology, strengthen its recruitment and revenue streams, and collect resources that can be redeployed abroad” as well as “integrate into local society and insert its operatives deeper into commercial and black-market sectors of the economy.” RIC’s latest report on the new Syrian Caretaker Government (SCG), published this month, also found reasons for concern in this regard. While US-directed counter-ISIS operations likely can and will contribute to degradation of the organizational structure of ISIS in Syria, truly combating the violent and intolerant ideology promoted by jihadist Islamist groups is a different matter. Indeed, when at least 1,500 Alawites were killed by SCG forces in Latakia across a few days in early March, in what was widely described as a systematic murder spree, the resemblance to the numerous massacres that occurred throughout the Syrian Civil War by jihadist groups including ISIS was stark.

Three repatriation missions occurred this month in NES. The DAANES handed over ISIS-affiliated family members to an Austrian government delegation: two women and two children. This was the first third-country foreigner repatriation event of 2025. A total of 3,529 third-country foreigners have now been repatriated from NES, as per RIC data. In two separate missions, 1,287 Iraqis also departed from al-Hol camp this month, marking the 8h Iraqi repatriation mission in NES of 2025. 4,451 Iraqi citizens have now left al-Hol and Roj camps this year so far, marking a sharp uptick in pace of repatriations. For comparison, across all of 2024, a total of 2,740 Iraqis were repatriated. In Roj camp, which houses around 2,600 family members of suspected ISIS members, a Moroccan girl was strangled to death after being severely beaten. Roj camp is the smaller of the two camps in Rojava housing ISIS families, and generally sees less violence than al-Hol camp, its much larger counterpart. On the 20th of the month, the European Union’s diplomatic arm held an emergency meeting concerning al-Hol camp’s ISIS-linked detainees, some of whom are EU citizens, with Brussels officials citing concerns of a humanitarian and security crisis after the US abruptly paused much of its humanitarian aid, with both al-Hol and Roj camps directly affected. In their visit to al-Hol camp this month, Sky News reporters cited a precarious security situation: escape attempts from the camp have increased since the fall of Assad, the fence surrounding the camp is insecure, and ISIS cells outside the camp continue to smuggle weapons into the camp and people out of the camp. Meanwhile children inside are vulnerable to ISIS recruitment.