U.S. forces carried out two strikes in Syria, killing 37 “terrorist operatives,” including members of Daesh and al-Qaida affiliate Hurras al-Din, CENTCOM reported Sunday.
A Sept. 24 strike in northwest Syria killed nine “terrorist operatives,” including senior Hurras al-Din leader Marwan Bassam ‘Abd-al-Ra’uf, the U.S. military said.
A Sept. 16 strike in central Syria targeted a Daesh training camp and killed at least 28 people, including four senior leaders, the statement said. It did not identify the leaders.
The U.S. military has around 900 troops in Syria as part of the international coalition against the Daesh terrorist group. The coalition was established in 2014 to help combat the armed group, which had taken over vast swaths of Iraq and Syria.
“These strikes against leadership and operatives of ISIS (Daesh) and the al-Qaida affiliate, Hurras al-Din, represent CENTCOM’s commitment to the enduring defeat of terrorist organizations in the CENTCOM area of responsibility and our support to regional stability,” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM’s commander.
Anti-Daesh coalition forces have been targeted dozens of times with drones and rocket fire in both Iraq and Syria, as Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza since last year has made the Middle East more volatile.
U.S. forces have carried out multiple retaliatory strikes against terrorist groups in both countries.
In August, U.S. forces killed another Hurras al-Din leader, Abu Abdul Rahman al-Makki, in a strike in Syria.
