US Forces Eliminate Senior Leader of Al-Qaeda-Linked Armed Group in Syria

Saudi National Al-Maki Killed in Drone Targeted Airstrike in Idlib

The U.S. military announced on the 23rd (local time) that it eliminated a senior leader of an Al-Qaeda-linked armed group through an airstrike in Syria.

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The U.S. Central Command explained on social media platform X that "this airstrike targeted Abu Abdul Rahman Al-Makki, a member of the Huras al-Din Shura Council and a senior leader overseeing terrorist operations in Syria."

Huras al-Din is a Sunni fundamentalist Salafi jihadist organization involved in the Syrian civil war, commonly referred to as "Al-Qaeda in Syria." The group opposes the interests of the U.S. and the West and shares Al-Qaeda's belief that the U.S. and the West must be attacked, according to Central Command.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group for the Syrian civil war, previously reported that Al-Makki, a Saudi national, was killed in a drone strike targeting a motorcycle in the rural area of southern Idlib.

The U.S. military has been operating approximately 900 troops in Syria since organizing an international coalition in 2014 to eliminate the Islamic State (IS), an international terrorist organization that once controlled vast areas of Iraq and Syria. U.S. forces stationed in Syria frequently conduct airstrikes against IS and other armed groups that pose threats to them.