US figures about ISIS recruits in Syria were ‘artificially high’

Claims by a US general that 100 foreign fighters a month still travel to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS are probably overplayed to justify American troops in Syria, an analyst says.

But the group still remains a potent force capable of fierce resistance defending its last territory in the Syrian desert.

Gen Joe Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said groups such as ISIS “remain resilient, determined and adaptable”.

“It’s the flow of foreign fighters, the ability to move resources and the ideology that allows these groups to operate,” he told a conference in Maryland on Tuesday.

At its peak, ISIS attracted about 1,500 foreigners to its ranks a month but the general warned against complacency in the fight against violent extremism, estimating that about 100 foreigners were still joining the group each month.

This figure seemed artificially high, said Aymenn Al Tamimi, a research fellow at the Middle East Forum.

The ISIS-held territory’s distance from the Turkish border would complicate efforts by foreign fighters to smuggle themselves in, said Mr Al Tamimi. Getting through Iraqi airports or border crossings would be just as difficult.

“The fight against ISIS is the US’s official reason to remain there,” Mr Al Tamimi said. “It would be much harder for the US to explain its presence as an official counter-Iran mission.”

The US and its regional ally Israel fear that Iran’s influence on Syria will be permanently bolstered thanks to its support of the government of Bashar Al Assad during the civil war.

For a month, ISIS has been resisting a fierce attack led by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces against its last stronghold near the Iraqi border, around the town of Hajin.

But the forces’ efforts have been recently slowed due to bad weather that offers ISIS cover from aerial surveillance.

“Daesh is benefiting a lot from weather factors, including sandstorms,” a top commander, Redur Khalil, said on Tuesday. “They’ve helped it take cover from reconnaissance aircraft.”

As a result, the battle will take “much longer than expected”.

The SDF, which estimates that about 3,000 ISIS fighters remain the area, has lost more than 200 fighters over the past month, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said yesterday. It said that about 300 ISIS fighters were killed.

The UN has warned of the “devastating impact” of the violence on at least 10,000 civilians. ISIS abducted hundreds of them last week in Hajin, where it is also thought to be holding dozens of women hostages from Sweida.

The Observatory also reported yesterday that shelling by the SDF and the international coalition killed seven civilians.

The SDF’s latest setback highlights the resilience of ISIS in Syria, particularly in the remote desert area that stretches from the southern volcanic region east of Sweida, where ISIS is fighting the Syrian army, to the Iraqi border and then north to Turkey.

American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said about 100 recruits join ISIS every month