The Pentagon confirmed a strike against jihadist leaders on 31st of augustin Syria. According to one NGO, the death toll is one of the most deadly inflicted on jihadists in one attack.
The United States led a strike in Syria on Saturday against jihadist leaders near the town of Idleb, killing at least 40 of them according to an NGO.
“This operation targeted AQ-S leaders responsible for attacks threatening American citizens, our partners, as well as innocent civilians,” the Pentagon said in a brief statement, without giving details of how the operation had been conducted.
Recrudescence of American strikes
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), which relies on an extensive network of sources in Syria, reported that missile attacks had targeted a meeting bringing together leaders of the Hurrah al-Din and Ansar al-Tawhid jihadist groups as well as leaders of other extremist groups allied with them in a training camp. “At least 40 of them” were killed, said Rami Abdel Rahmane, director of the OSDH.
The attack occurred on the first day of a truce in the bombardments of the Syrian regime and its Russian ally against the Idleb region. The target groups are allies of the HTS, the former Syrian branch of Al Qaeda. All these factions have already been the target of air raids by the Syrian regime, its Russian ally, but also by the international anti-Jihadist coalition led by the United States, and by the United States itself.
On 30 June, the United States carried out a strike “against al-Qaeda’s leadership in Syria in a training structure” in the province of Aleppo, neighbouring Idleb. The OSDH then claimed that eight people were killed by the strike, including six commanders of the Hurrah al-Din group.
In 2014, the United States formed an international coalition to fight Daesh, which was defeated last March in Syria with the help of Kurdish forces. But American soldiers are still on the scene in Syria. American strikes against jihadists had decreased considerably since 2017.
A truce of the Syrian regime
On another front of the war, the Syrian regime stopped air strikes on Idleb on Saturday, on the first day of a truce announced after four months of devastating bombardments, the OSDH said.
An NGO reported on Saturday that a civilian was killed in Syrian regime missile attacks on Idleb, the first “violation” of a truce that began in the morning and concerned only the Syrian army.
This truce was announced the day before by Russia, an ally of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian President, which it is helping in the conflict, particularly in its offensive against jihadists and rebels in the Idleb region, which has killed more than 950 civilians since late April. The ground fighting has also ceased, according to the NGO.
