Jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) organization have killed almost 4,100 people on the territory of Syria after losing their last stronghold in that country in 2019, according to data released yesterday Saturday by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

IS had seized vast swaths of Syria and Iraq in 2014, declaring itself a “caliphate” and imposing its rule with brutal terror, before its kingdom crumbled like a house of cards in 2019, under attack from multiple directions, from of the US and its allied Kurdish forces, on the other hand of the Syrian and Russian armed forces and their allies, paramilitary groups with the support of Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah.

After losing the territories they held, remaining jihadists retreated to the vast Syrian desert, from where they continue to launch deadly attacks, targeting mainly the Syrian army, but also Kurdish forces.

IS members have “killed around 4,100 people in over 2,550 operations” in areas controlled by both the Damascus regime and the semi-autonomous Kurdish self-government since 2019, according to the Britain-based non-governmental organisation. wide network of sources in Syria.

The majority of the victims belonged to warring forces, either the army and its auxiliaries, or Kurdish-led factions, but the toll also included at least 627 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

More than half of the 4,085 victims were killed in the Badia, the Syrian desert that stretches from the outskirts of Damascus to the border with Iraq.

A total of “2,744 people were killed by IS after it officially collapsed in 2019 in various sectors of the Syrian desert,” the NGO noted, clarifying that among them were more than 2,500 military personnel or members of organizations that pledge allegiance to the government of Bashar al-Assad.

“In practice, not a single day goes by without an attack, ambush, targeted operation or surprise attack” by jihadists in the region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, while there are also regular “operations (…) by regime forces and organizations that support in the middle of the desert”, with the support of “Russian warplanes”.

IS has also suffered heavy losses, according to the NGO, with more than 2,000 jihadists dead, including front-line operatives.

A United Nations report released in January estimated IS fighters in Iraq and Syria at “3,000 to 5,000” and that the base has become the group’s “logistical and operational center” in the latter country.

The highly complex war in Syria, which broke out in 2011, triggered by a bloody crackdown by the regime on protests with a central demand for the country’s democratization, has claimed the lives of more than half a million people, turned millions more into internally displaced persons and refugees, and shattered its territory.