Helicopter landed in Syria: Eyewitnesses: US-led troops attack al Qaeda headquarters

Helicopter landed in Syria
Eyewitnesses: US-led troops attack al-Qaeda headquarters

According to one expert, it was “the largest operation of this kind since the operation against Bagdadi”: Helicopters apparently landed in the Syrian province of Idlib, and explosions could be heard from the house of an Islamist. At least twelve people die, including women and children.

According to eyewitness reports, US-led forces attacked the home of a suspected member of the Islamist organization al-Qaeda in Syria. Several helicopters landed near the city of Atmeh in the Syrian rebel province of Idlib and explosions were heard near the home of a foreign Islamist, residents of the city and insiders of the rebels fighting the Syrian government told Reuters.

A local resident reported that rescue workers recovered at least 12 bodies, including women and children, from the rubble of a multi-storey building. There was no confirmation that Islamists were killed in the attack.

The US State Department and the spokesman for coalition forces in northern Syria did not respond to requests for comment. According to eyewitnesses, the operation lasted more than two hours, reports Syria expert Charles Lister, senior staff member at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. “Whoever they were looking for, they apparently wanted him alive.” According to Lister, this is “the largest operation of this kind since the operation against Bagdadi”.

The leader of the so-called Islamic State IS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, died in a 2019 raid by US special forces in northwestern Syria.

source site-34