ISIS is once again exploiting the deep security vacuum in Syria, especially in the east and northeast of the country. The group’s recent attack on a Syrian security facility in Raqqa is a warning sign that it still has cells capable of planning, moving and striking against local forces.

The danger is not that ISIS is about to retake large cities tomorrow. The danger is slower and more familiar: assassinations, ambushes, prison-break attempts, attacks on checkpoints and the rebuilding of local terror networks in areas where the state is weak and foreign-backed militias compete for control.

This is exactly how ISIS survived after the fall of its so-called caliphate. It disappeared into the desert, rural villages and tribal areas, waiting for Syria’s fragmentation to give it space again. Today, that space is still there.