Syrian authorities announced Wednesday that they have broken up multiple Islamic State cells in southern Syria and taken into custody a senior ISIS figure named Firas al-Dagher. Officials say al-Dagher held a number of high-level roles within the organization, including serving as what ISIS called its “Governor of Lebanon and Palestine” and later working as a personal aide to the group’s self-proclaimed “Caliph.”
The joint operation, conducted by Syria’s Interior Ministry and the General Intelligence Service, is considered one of the most significant counterterrorism actions announced by Damascus since the country underwent its recent political transition.
According to the Interior Ministry, al-Dagher steadily climbed through ISIS’s chain of command over the years, beginning with oversight of areas the group called the “Jaidour Sector” and the “Western Region” before being elevated to lead the self-declared “Province of Lebanon and Palestine.”
Beyond al-Dagher’s arrest, the operation also led to the detention of several other ISIS operatives accused of carrying out assassinations and handling the cell’s financing. Authorities said these suspects confessed to murdering two Interior Ministry personnel, killing a civilian during an attempted assassination inside a barber shop, and stalking a man and his wife before later killing them as well.
Investigators determined that the cell financed its operations by targeting gold merchants in Daraa province — robbing and killing them — and then selling the stolen gold to fund further activities.
Syrian political writer and researcher Bassam Abu Adnan said the importance of this operation goes far beyond capturing a single senior commander. “The investigation sheds light on how ISIS cells in southern Syria have adapted their methods, increasingly relying on assassinations, armed robberies, and criminal activity to finance their operations after losing the traditional sources of revenue they once controlled during the years they ruled large parts of Syria and Iraq,” Abu Adnan told The Media Line.
He added that the operation also highlights improved coordination between Syria’s Interior Ministry and General Intelligence Service as the country continues pursuing ISIS sleeper cells years after the group’s territorial collapse.
An Interior Ministry security source told The Media Line that the arrests followed a lengthy intelligence effort conducted jointly by the two agencies. The fact that raids targeted multiple suspects at the same time suggests authorities had spent an extended period gathering surveillance and intelligence before moving in.
Syrian researcher Orabi Orabi, who specializes in jihadist movements, said capturing someone of al-Dagher’s rank is not the result of a standard security sweep. “Operations of this nature are usually the outcome of extensive intelligence work involving surveillance of suspects, monitoring financial and communication networks, and, in some cases, information obtained through previous arrests or investigations into crimes linked to the cell,” Orabi told The Media Line.
He said the findings point to a growing ability within Syria’s security services to reach senior ISIS operatives rather than simply rounding up lower-level fighters.
Orabi also explained that ISIS has fundamentally changed how it funds itself since losing its territorial strongholds. “At the height of its territorial control, ISIS relied on oil and gas revenues, taxation, extortion, and control of border crossings and local resources,” he said. “Today, its cells increasingly finance themselves through criminal activity such as armed robbery, gold theft, extortion, and kidnapping for ransom.”
He said the pattern uncovered in Daraa — robbing gold merchants and selling the stolen goods — fits squarely into this wider shift. “Criminal activity has become one of ISIS’s primary funding mechanisms since the group lost its traditional sources of income,” Orabi said. “This model also allows sleeper cells to operate with greater flexibility and remain concealed, as many of these crimes initially appear to be ordinary criminal incidents before investigations reveal links to terrorist financing networks.”
Analysts say that as Syrian authorities press forward with efforts to dismantle ISIS networks, lasting success will require more than individual arrests. Disrupting the group’s leadership structure, financial pipelines, and intelligence capabilities will be essential to preventing sleeper cells from continuing to operate despite ISIS’s defeat on the battlefield.
