The US-led international anti-jihadist coalition today launched an operation to arrest a jihadist close to al-Qaeda in a northern Syrian city. A fierce battle broke out during the operation, according to residents and sources close to organizations fighting against the Syrian government.
A resident spoke to Reuters news agency about at least 12 dead.
According to the agency sources, several helicopters landed near the city of Atmeh, in the province of Idlib, a rebel-held area near the border with Turkey, followed by powerful explosions, airstrikes and fire near the house of a foreign jihadist.
The other side used anti-aircraft missiles, according to a source close to rebel organizations quoted by Reuters.
The operation, estimated to have lasted more than two hours, ended when, according to eyewitnesses, helicopters were heard leaving the area.
The identities of the victims are not yet clear. According to a resident, rescue teams removed bodies from a collapsed high-rise building; among them were women and children.
Neither the State Department nor a spokesman for the US-backed coalition responded when Reuters tried to contact them for comment.
According to Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute (Washington), “whoever the target of the operation was, it is” clear “that the special forces who operated” wanted him alive “.
Mr Leicester told Reuters that “this is the most important operation of its kind” since 2019, which resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (IS), in northwestern Syria.
The same view was expressed by Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the non-governmental organization Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, speaking to Agence France-Presse.
The province of Idlib and its environs are controlled by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sam (HTS) – the former Support Front (Jabhat al-Nusra), which swore allegiance to al Qaeda until 2016 – and its allies. Some dissident foreign jihadists have formed the US-designated Hura An-Din (Guardians of Religion) organization, which has been targeted by coalition bombers.
In October, the U.S. military announced the death of Abdul Hamid al-Matar, a senior al Qaeda leader, in a UAV strike in northern Syria.
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