"There are also regional monitoring sites that are often quite accurate, such as the Rojava Information Centre in northeast Syria, the Counter Extremism Project in central Syria, and conflict tracking projects from Bellingcat and the Centre for Information Resilience on Ukraine and Myanmar. Similar projects can be found in different geographical regions in the world."

[Translated from Finnish] "Researcher Sofia Koller has followed and analyzed dozens of trials of ISIS women held in Germany and France. He works at the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) research institute
'Cooking and housework are not illegal activities in themselves. But in Germany, the prosecutors have argued that in the context of ISIS's territory and its activities, they must be considered terrorist acts," says Koller. "In this role, women actively supported the terrorist organization and were its members. And this reasoning has worked in court.'"

CEP Research Analyst Gregory Water writes: "Years of simmering tensions between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and local populations in northeast Syria have exploded this week into still-expanding battles across much of Deir ez-Zor. The current violence was triggered by the SDF’s Aug. 27 arrest of Ahmed al-Khubayl (“Abu Khawla”), the emir of the Bakir tribe and commander of the SDF’s Deir ez-Zor Military Council. Five days later the chaos shows no sign of subsiding — in fact it appears to be spreading as more towns and clans take up arms against the SDF. The roots of this crisis are multilayered and complex, reaching back years."

"Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project and former coordinator of a terror monitoring team in the UN Security Council, told The Media Line that Syria no longer operates as IS’s center of gravity as it once did. He said that the recent attack in Syria might be a way for the group to 'show [its] relevance' and improve its public image."

"Our team spoke to terrorism expert Gregory Waters, who documents the Islamic State group’s activities for the Counter Extremism Project. Our interview with him has been transcribed below and lightly edited for clarity and length."

"In central and southern Syria the group has expanded its reach, according to the Counter Extremism Project. In regime-held areas the group had its deadliest month in three years, launching 38 attacks in Deir Ezzor, Homs, Hama and Raqqa. In April, at least 71 civilians were killed by ISIS and another seven were kidnapped."