A US-led coalition drone strike in northwestern Syria has killed a senior member of the Islamic State group who was in charge of planning attacks in Europe, the US military said on Tuesday.
The man killed in the attack on Monday was identified by a US military statement as Khalid Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri. The military statement added that his death “will temporarily disrupt the organization’s ability to plan external attacks.”
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said on Monday one person was killed in a drone strike near the rebel village of Kefteen.
The opposition Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, said it evacuated the man from the scene of the attack and he later succumbed to his injuries.
The attack was the latest in a series of attacks in recent years against al Qaeda-linked militants and senior members of the Islamic State group in northwestern Syria.
Most of those killed by US strikes in the rebel-held province of Idlib in recent years were members of al-Qaida’s Horas al-Din branch, which means “Guardians of Religion” in Arabic. The group includes stalwart al-Qaeda members who have broken away from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the strongest insurgent group in Idlib province.
In February, a drone strike killed two men, whom local activists initially identified as members of Horas al-Din. The Observatory later said that one of the two killed was a senior member of the Islamic State group that was defeated in Syria in March 2019.
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