The US military announced Friday, October 22, that it had killed an al-Qaeda leader in a drone strike in Syria, two days after the attack on a base in southern Syria used by the anti-jihadist coalition led by the United States.
"An American airstrike carried out today in northwestern Syria killed top al-Qaeda leader Abdul Hamid al-Matar,"
said Commander John Rigsbee, a spokesman for the Central Command of
Syria.
US Army (Centcom) in a statement.
The strike was carried out in the Soulouk region in northern Syria under Turkish control.
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"We saw no sign of civilian casualties following the strike, which was carried out by an MQ-9 drone
," he said, referring to the armed drone nicknamed "Reaper" ("the mower" in English).
The spokesperson did not say whether the strike was carried out in retaliation after Wednesday's attack on the al-Tanf base, used by the anti-jihadist coalition near the Syrian borders with Jordan and Iraq, which did not make a victim.
According to Centcom, this
"deliberate and coordinated"
attack
was carried out with drones and artillery fire.
900 American soldiers deployed
"Al-Qaeda continues to pose a threat to the United States and our allies,"
he simply said.
The group
"uses Syria as a fallback base to reconstitute itself, coordinate with its affiliates and plan operations abroad
.
"
“The elimination of this top al-Qaeda leader will affect the ability of the terrorist organization to plan and carry out attacks against American citizens, our partners and innocent civilians
,” he added.
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The Pentagon had eliminated at the end of September another
"senior al-Qaeda leader"
in Syria, Salim Abou-Ahmad, in an airstrike near Idlib, in the north-west of the country.
He was
"responsible for planning, financing and approving cross-regional attacks"
carried out by the jihadist organization, according to Centcom.
Some 900 US troops remain deployed in northeastern Syria, where they continue to cooperate with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and at the al-Tanf base in the south, on the borders of Iraq and Jordan.
