[SyriaUntold] At the beginning of last June, a graphic video spread on social media of an assasination. The video shows two armed men dismounting from a motorcycle and shooting Ratib Al-Hashem Al-Atiwi, from the Syrian Ministry of Defense. They fatally wounded him, before fleeing on bike in the direction of the Baghuz desert and its rocky hills that run along the border of Iraq and eastern Syria.
This was just one of the assassinations carried out by members of an ISIS cell in Baghouz, in broad daylight. The act was quickly claimed by the group's online accounts, signaling a recent escalation in their operations. Less than a month later, on 2 July, Baghouz witnessed two similar assassinations, claiming the lives of two residents.
The first targeted a person in the municipal stadium, who was shot during a friendly football match between two local teams. After fleeing, the assailants opened fire indiscriminately on shops in the market, killing another civilian and seriously wounding others, including a doctor. Additionally, the Syrian Ministry of Defense and security positions were attacked with machine guns in Baghouz, Al-Susah, and Mayadin last month.
These developments on the ground foreshadow a new phase of ISIS activity. The local guide who accompanied SyriaUntold did not hide his apprehension and fear of them. He is from one of the towns neighboring Baghouz, and said reporting with a camera as a foreigner, talking to the locals and listening to their testimonies, is extremely dangerous.
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