The United States military says it has killed dozens of fighters from ISIL (ISIS) and an al-Qaeda-affiliated armed group in two separate attacks this month in Syria.
In a statement released on Sunday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that a “large-scale airstrike” on a remote ISIL camp in central Syria on September 16 killed at least 28 operatives, including four senior leaders.
The statement did not identify the people killed but said the attack would disrupt ISIL’s “capability to conduct operations against U.S. interests, as well as our allies and partners”.
CENTCOM also said that an attack in northwestern Syria on September 24 killed nine fighters, including “Marwan Bassam ‘Abd-al-Ra’uf, a senior Hurras al-Din leader responsible for overseeing military operations from Syria”.
This was the second attack targeting the senior leadership of the al-Qaeda-aligned group in as many months. In August, CENTCOM announced the killing of Abu-Abd al-Rahman al-Makki in an attack in Syria.
Hurras al-Din emerged in Syria in 2018, linked to al-Qaeda supporters.
The US has about 900 troops in Syria, as well as an undisclosed number of contractors. It says its forces are on a mission to advise and assist local allies trying to prevent a resurgence of ISIL, which in 2014 swept through parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
The Syrian government has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the US role in Syria and demanded the withdrawal of its forces.
