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  By: ISW Syria Team and Syria Direct  This graphic marks the latest installment of our Syria SITREP Map made possible through a partnership between the Institute for the Study of War and  Syria Direct . This graphic depicts significant developments in the Syrian Civil War from September 14 - 27, 2017. The control of terrain represented on the graphic is accurate as of September 14, 2017. Special credit to Sana Sekkarie of the Institute for the Study of War for the text of this Syria SITREP. 

By Christopher Kozak The Russo-Iranian Coalition and U.S. Anti-ISIS Coalition hold divergent strategic objectives that will undermine efforts to deconflict operations against ISIS in Deir ez-Zour Province. The U.S. Anti-ISIS Coalition remains largely fixated on its mission to defeat ISIS along the Middle Euphrates River Valley. No other actors operating in the region share this prioritization. The Russo-Iranian Coalition aims first and foremost to block the further expansion of the U.S. Anti-ISIS Coalition in Eastern Syria. Russia and Iran view this expansion as a long-term threat to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as potential ground lines of communication from Iran to Syria via Iraq. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – an umbrella organization led by the Syrian Kurdish YPG that is the preferred ground partner of the U.S. Anti-ISIS Coalition in Syria – also retains its own objective to secure valuable terrain and resources as a future bargaining chip in negotiations with Sy...

By Jennifer Cafarella with Jason Zhou Key Takeaway:   ISIS’s attack campaign in Europe is expanding despite ISIS’s losses of terrain and senior leadership in the Middle East and North Africa. ISIS continues to plan, resource, and execute attacks from its remaining safe havens in Syria, Iraq, and Libya. ISIS has successfully expanded its coordinated attack campaign in Europe to target the UK and Spain. Rising levels of ISIS-inspired attacks in Sweden and Finland may signal growing online ISIS activity targeting vulnerable populations in those states and receptivity among those populations to the ISIS message. Coordinated attack attempts could follow. ISIS is sustaining its attack efforts in its initial target states of France and Germany, meanwhile. ISIS’s activity in Belgium, also an initial target state, is much lower, but the lack of ISIS attacks in Belgium does not signal incapacity. ISIS may be using its networks in Belgium to support attack cells elsewhere in Europe. ISIS also...