Senior Al-Qaeda Leader Killed In US Drone Strike In Syria

A senior Al-Qaeda chief was killed in a US drone strike in Syria, the Pentagon mentioned on Friday (Oct 22).

 

The strike comes two days after a base in southern Syria, utilized by the US-led coalition preventing the Islamic State group, was assaulted.

 

“A US airstrike in the present day in northwest Syria killed senior Al-Qaeda chief Abdul Hamid al-Matar,” mentioned Central Command spokesman Military Main John Rigsbee in an announcement.

There have been no identified casualties from the strike, he mentioned, including it was performed utilizing an MQ-9 plane.

 

“The elimination of this Al-Qaeda senior chief will disrupt the terrorist organisation’s capability to additional plot and perform world assaults,” he mentioned.

 

On the finish of September the Pentagon killed Salim Abu-Ahmad, one other senior Al-Qaeda commander in Syria, in an airstrike close to Idlib within the nation’s northwest.

 

He had been chargeable for “planning, funding, and approving trans-regional Al-Qaeda assaults”, in response to Centcom.

 

“Al-Qaeda continues to current a menace to America and our allies. Al-Qaeda makes use of Syria as a secure haven to rebuild, coordinate with exterior associates, and plan exterior operations,” Main Rigsbee mentioned.

 

The continued warfare in Syria has created a posh battlefield involving overseas armies, militias and jihadists.

 

The warfare has killed round half 1,000,000 individuals since beginning in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.