US launches counter-terrorism strike in Syria to target senior Al-Qaeda leader

Days after the Pentagon admitted that civilians were killed instead of terrorists in a drone strike in Afghanistan, the US-led international coalition launched a strike near Idlib in Syria, targeting a senior leader with the Al-Qaeda terror group. Addressing media reporters, US Defence Department Spokesperson John Kirby said that US troops conducted a “kinetic counter-terorrism” strike near Idlib. Furthermore, he denied any civilian casualties from the strike and said that there were indications that they had struck the designated target. Notably, Washington had triggered global backlash earlier this week after a drone strike they previously conducted in Kabul left 10 civilians dead.   

"US forces conducted a kinetic counterterrorism strike near Idlib, Syria, today, on a senior Al-Qaeda leader. Initial indications are that we struck the individual we were aiming for, and there are no indications of civilian casualties as a result of the strike," John Kirby stated.

Located in northwestern Syria, Ildib is one of the last areas held by the rebels. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war and even before, the US has conducted aerial strikes on the land targeting Al-Qaeda and ISIS chief. It is to mention that nearly four million civilians reside in the Idlib and its bordering province of Aleppo. 

'Vehicle was carrying a militant' 

Earlier Associated Press reported that the country’s civil defence team - known as White Helmets - lifted an unidentified body from the obliterated car along the Idlib-Binnish road east of Idlib province. The charred vehicle was found lying in the periphery of a rural road in an orchid. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the vehicle allegedly was transporting a militant from one part of the country to another. 

Last week, France's President Emmanuel Macron said that French troops had neutralised the Islamic State (IS) leader Adnan Abou Walid al Sahraoui in the Sahel region. In a tweet, he confirmed that Sahraoui, who led the terror outfit in the Greater Sahara, has been killed, marking a “major success” in France’s fight against terrorism. It is imperative to note that France has repeatedly been subjected to attacks perpetrated by Islamist terrorists leading Macron to blatantly declare a war on “Radical Islam”. 

(Representative Image: AP/US AIRFORCE)

(With inputs from AP)