BEIRUT—The ISIS terrorist group has carried out its deadliest attacks in more than a year, killing dozens of civilians and security officers in the deserts of central Syria, even as people of northern Syria have been digging out of the wreckage from the region’s devastating earthquake.
The bloodshed was a reminder of the persistent threat from ISIS, whose sleeper cells still terrorize populations nearly four years after the group was defeated in Syria.
The attacks also underscored the terrorists’ limitations. ISIS terrorist have found refuge in the remote deserts of Syria’s interior and along the Iraqi-Syrian border. From there, they lash out against civilians and security forces in both countries. But they are also hemmed in by opponents on all sides: Syrian government troops as well as Kurdish-led fighters who control eastern Syria and are backed by U.S. forces. American raids with their Kurdish-led allies have repeatedly killed or caught ISIS leaders and, earlier this month, killed two senior ISIS figures….