Washington: In an attack in northwest Syria on Friday, the US military claims to have killed a senior al-Qaida leader. Abdul Hamid al-Matar was killed by a drone attack, according to Army Major John Rigsbee, a spokesman for US Central Command. Rigsbee said that the killing of al-Matar will disrupt al-Qaida’s “ability to further the plot and carry out global attacks threatening US citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians.”
Al-Qaida utilises Syria as a base for threats that spread into Syria, Iraq, and beyond,” he stated. The drone strike came 2 days after a concerted attack using drones and rockets targeted a US military base in southern Syria. An MQ-9 aircraft did not damage or kill any American troops stationed there, according to US sources.
Salim Abu-Ahmad, another prominent al-Qaeda commander in Syria, was killed in an attack near Idlib in the country’s northwest towards the end of September. According to Centcom, he was in charge of “planning, funding, and sanctioning trans-regional al-Qaeda assaults.” Syria’s protracted conflict has resulted in a complicated battlefield including foreign forces, militias, and Islamists. Since 2011, when the war began with a harsh assault on anti-government protesters, it has killed roughly half a million people. Al-Qaeda continues to be a threat to the United States and its allies.