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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

US says airstrike killed 7 leaders of al-Qaida in Syria

2020-10-27

The details promised in this tweet from four days ago.

[APNEWS] The United States believes it killed seven big shots of al-Qaeda in Syria in an ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
last week as the leaders were meeting near Idlib, U.S. Central Command said Monday.

A Central Command spokeswoman, Maj. Beth Riordan, said the strike was conducted Oct. 22. She did not identify the seven leaders by name.

"The removal of these AQ-S leaders will disrupt the terrorist organization’s ability to further plot and carryout global attacks threatening U.S. citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians," she said.

"AQ-S takes advantage of the instability in northwest Syria to establish and maintain safe havens to coordinate terrorist activities," she added. "With our allies and partners, we will continue to target al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations."

Al Monitor adds:

A US dronezap killed at least 10 attendees at a meeting in northwest Syria’s opposition-held Idlib province on Thursday, US Central Command said.

The strike hit "a group of al-Qaeda in [Syria] big shots meeting near Idlib" and that the group "continues to present a threat to America and our allies," CENTCOM spokesperson Maj. Beth Riordan said in a statement.

"[Al-Qaeda in Syria] takes advantage of the instability in northwest Syria to establish and maintain safe havens to coordinate terrorist activities. With our allies and partners, we will continue to target al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations," it read.

Citing local sources, Washington-based analyst Charles Lister tweeted that 11 people were believed to have been killed in the strike, including a former Jabhat al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
commander.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 14 people were killed, including five foreign jihadists and six commanders. Multiple sources reported the strike occurred in the village of Jakara.

Why it matters: US drones regularly kill suspected al-Qaeda figures individually or in pairs in northwest Syria, but this strike was big.

Local reports say several of those killed were rivals of the local Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else

Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else

...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
, the most prominent Islamist bully boy group in Idlib that is suspected to have ties to ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
’s intelligence service.

Turkey’s military maintains thousands of troops in Idlib in support of the opposition. The strike is bound to add to rumors on the ground that HTS may be cooperating with ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish intelligence, which in turn may be providing targeting information to the United States. So far, no evidence for the rumors have been made public.

Idlib province, the last opposition enclave in Syria’s civil war, has become a haven for Islamist ~~bandidos~~ murderous Moslems after Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Trampler of Homs...
’s regime recaptured much of the country west of the Euphrates River and the US-led international coalition helped the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to capture the country’s northeast from the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was tracked down and died in a raid by the US Army’s Delta Force in Idlib province last October.

Posted by:Fred

#3 ^Trump is not a real president - he doesn't even hunt ME peasants from UAVs.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-10-27 09:14

#2 Something tells me that in this case there will be no photo of the President and his minions sitting around the table and following the attack in real time. Something tells me US forces have orders to attack al Qaeda whenever and wherever it will leave a mark, and the President does not have to sign off.

Posted by: b 2020-10-27 09:11

#1 Well, that should fix the problem!

Posted by: Muggsy Hapsburg5230 2020-10-27 01:13

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