DAMASCUS: Syrian forces raided hideouts of the militant Islamic State group in Aleppo on Saturday, killing one militant and arresting others, the first time the Islamist-led government has announced such an operation in Syria’s second city.

A member of the security forces was also killed, a statement issued by an interior ministry spokesperson said. The security forces seized weapons, bombs and uniforms with the security forces’ insignia.

A security source said the raids had targeted sleeper cells in four locations, and 10 people had been arrested. One militant had blown himself up, and another had been killed in clashes, the source said.

Syria’s interim Presi­dent Ahmed al Sharaa, who once led a branch of Al Qaeda, has long been an IS adversary and battled the group’s self-declared caliphate during the country’s civil war.

President Donald Trump met Sharaa earlier this week, and praised him as an “attractive guy with a very strong past” after the encounter in Saudi Arabia on Wednes­day.

Trump also declared the United States would lift sanctions, a major US policy shift that should help revive the shattered economy and marked a major boost for Sharaa.

Sharaa seized power in Damascus in December after the ousting of Bashar al Assad. Sharaa cut ties with Al Qaeda in 2016.

The militant Islamic State group controlled swathes of Syria and Iraq at the height of its power, before being beaten out of the territory by enemies including a US-led military alliance.

In January, the Syrian authorities said they had foiled an attack by IS on the Sayeda Zeinab shrine in a Damascus suburb and had arrested members of the cell.

Islamic State militants killed five members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Demo­cratic Forces in eastern Syria last month, in one of their deadliest attacks in a while.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2025