Photo: ISIS militants in Syria
On Friday, August 23, as a result of an operation in Syria, US troops killed a high-ranking leader of an Al-Qaeda-linked group. militant group, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse.
The strike targeted Abu Abdul Rahman al-Makki, who was “a member of Hurras al-Din and a senior leader responsible for overseeing terrorist operations from Syria.”
“Hurras al-Din is an al-Qaida-affiliated armed group based in Syria. Its fighters share al-Qaida's global aspirations to carry out attacks against US and Western interests,” the US military said in a statement.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights earlier said al-Makki was killed in a drone strike on a motorcycle in southern Idlib. According to her, he was a citizen of Saudi Arabia.
About 900 U.S. troops are in Syria as part of the international coalition fighting the Islamic State group. The coalition was created in 2014 to fight the jihadists who have seized vast swathes of Iraq and Syria.
American troops periodically strike in Syria against ISIS militants – which has since lost the territory it once held – and other jihadist groups they believe pose a threat to regional security.
Prepared by: Sergey Daga