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The United States Central Command (CENTCOm ) announced on February 16 that its forces conducted a precision airstrike in Northwest Syria targeting and killing a senior finance and logistics official of the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Hurras al-Din.
The strike took place a day earlier near the town of Urum al-Jawz in the southern Idlib countryside, according to Syrian media, which said that two Libyan members of Hurras al-Din Abdulrahman al-Lybi and Fadel al-Lybi were killed. It is unclear which of the two was the main target.
In a statement, CENTCOM said that the strike was a part of its “ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond.”
“We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists in order to defend our homeland, and U.S., allied, and partner personnel in the region,“ said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander, U.S. Central Command.
This was the second U.S. strike to target members of Hurras al-Din since the group declared its dissolution on January 28, citing the victory of the Syrian revolution and the fall of the Assad regime as the reason to cease operations in the country.
The first strike, which took place on January 30, killed Muhammad Salah al-Za’bir who was described by CENTCOM at the time as “a senior operative” of Hurras al-Din.
Hurras al-Din was formed in 2018. Since then, the group clashed on several occasions with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the offensive that removed Bashar al-Assad from power last December. HTS also declared its dissolution last January after its leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, was appointed the president of Syria for the transitional period.
It remains unclear if recent U.S. strikes against Horas al-Din were carried out in coordination with the new authorities in Syria.
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