The United Nations said Syria’s president Ahmad al-Sharaa and the country’s interior and foreign ministers were the targets of five foiled assassination attempts last year, warning that Islamic State militants remain focused on destabilizing the new government. In a report released to the U.N. Security Council, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the threats were documented in an assessment prepared by the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism.
The report said al-Sharaa, Syria’s interior minister Anas Hasan Khattab and foreign minister Asaad al-Shibani were among the targets. It gave no dates or operational details for the attempts against Khattab and al-Shibani, but it described two locations where al-Sharaa was targeted: northern Aleppo, Syria’s most populous province, and southern Daraa.
According to the report, a group called Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah carried out the targeting of al-Sharaa. The United Nations assessed that group to be a front for the Islamic State group, and the report said the militant organization was intent on undermining the new Syrian government. The report said Islamic State militants were “actively exploiting security vacuums and uncertainty” in Syria.
The United Nations said the Islamic State assessed al-Sharaa to be “a primary target.” It also said the front group provided the Islamic State with plausible deniability and “improved operational capacity,” describing how the plots could help the militants continue operating even amid shifting authorities.
The report placed the threats in the context of Syria’s leadership transition. Al-Sharaa has led Syria since rebel forces ousted longtime Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, ending a 14-year civil war. The report also noted that al-Sharaa previously led Hayar Tahrir al-Sham, a militant group once affiliated with al-Qaida that later cut ties, and it said Syria’s new government joined the international coalition formed to counter the Islamic State in November.
The U.N. counter-terrorism experts said the Islamic State still operates across Syria, “primarily attacking security forces, particularly in the north and northeast.” They cited an ambush attack on Dec. 13 near Palmyra involving U.S. and Syrian forces in which two U.S. servicemembers and an American civilian were killed, and three Americans and three members of Syria’s security forces were wounded. The report said President Donald Trump retaliated afterward, launching military operations aimed at eliminating Islamic State fighters.
The assessment said the Islamic State maintains an estimated 3,000 fighters across Iraq and Syria, with the majority based in Syria. It also described steps involving detainees held in northeastern Syria: in late January, the U.S. military began transferring Islamic State detainees to Iraq so they remain in secure facilities, and Iraq has said it will prosecute the militants.
The report further addressed conditions in detention camps in Syria’s northeast. It said Syrian government forces had taken control of a sprawling camp housing thousands of Islamic State detainees after the withdrawal of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces as part of a ceasefire with Kurdish fighters. As of December, before that ceasefire deal, the report said more than 25,740 people remained in the al-Hol and Roj camps, with more than 60% of them children, and it said thousands more were held in other detention centers.
The U.N. report said the overall pattern of foiled attacks and ongoing operations is aimed at weakening Syria’s security environment during the transition to the new government. It characterized the attempts as part of Islamic State efforts to exploit uncertainty and to keep pressure on authorities in key areas including Aleppo and Daraa.