Earlier this month, the US assassinated a leader of an al-Qaeda offshoot group in Syria’s Idlib Province, in the country’s northwest. The strike was carried out using a drone and a secretive missile that uses blades to shred the target to death. The missile, known as the Ninja Hellfire or the R9X, does not explode and is designed to limit civilian casualties.
The strike allegedly killed Sayyaf al-Tunsi, a Tunisian and a high ranking member of Hurras al-Din, a group affiliated with al-Qaeda. Hurras al-Din is an offshoot of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), previously the al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda in Syria). HTS is the dominant militant group in Idlib. Hurras al-Din was founded in 2018 by hardline members of HTS and al-Nusra, and other Islamist militant groups in the region.
US Joint Special Operations Command, with help from the CIA, has been waging this covert war against Hurras al-Din for months. The US killed the former leader of the group with a Ninja Hellfire missile back in June.
Hurras al-Din regularly clashes with other al-Qaeda-linked groups on the ground, and it has gained some of these militants, like HTS, favorable coverage by Western media. Christopher Miller, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told Congress about these clashes at a hearing this week.
“As of late June, battlefield conflicts between Hurras al-Din and the Nusra Front continued to escalate prompting al-Qaeda to issue a public statement condemning the fighting,” Miller said.
While the US is waging a shadow war against Hurras al-Din, its support of Turkey’s campaign in Idlib empowers the other al-Qaeda-linked groups on the ground.
Turkey backs a rebel group in Idlib, known as the National Liberation Front (NLF). Although Turkey denies supporting HTS, the al-Qaeda-linked militants have fought alongside NLF in the past, and some reports indicate recent Turkish-HTS coordination.
After heavy fighting between Syria and Turkey in Idlib earlier this year, Russia brokered a ceasefire that has held relatively well. Although the Syrian government has been fighting HTS, direct fighting between Turkish and Syrian forces has been rare.
The US threw its support behind Turkey back in February, when the offensive began, and skirmishes between Ankara and Damascus broke out. In March, US Envoy for Syria James Jeffrey visited Idlib with Kelly Craft, the US representative to the UN. During the visit, Craft pledged $108 million in humanitarian aid for Idlib, and Jeffrey said the US was willing to give Turkey ammunition alongside the humanitarian assistance.
On the other side of Syria, in the northeast, the US maintains a small occupation force and backs the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The US just sent an additional 100 troops and six Bradley Fighting Vehicles to bolster its force of about 500 soldiers. The increased US military presence came after confrontations with Russian and Syrian soldiers.
The US has managed to craft a loathsome policy toward Syria. It pledges “humanitarian” assistance to civilians in Idlib, as though they are victims only of Assad, Putin, and Khameini. The US ardent support of al Qaida and ISIS is not mentioned and the suffering caused by US leadership of the war of aggression against sovereign Syria is a trifle. No “humanitarian” aid for those civiluans.
But ammo for the invading Turks and their al Qaida pet dogs is also a priority for Trump. And what arrogant, uninvited visit to Jihadiville is complete with US officials posing with the propaganda experts for al Nusraqaida?
The arrogant, smug, meddling, lying US is the curse of the modern world.
not only does US impose sanction on Syria to starve Syrian people, they destroy and burn crops—the benevolent empire always attempting to produce genocide
cechas, please prove your claims, they are severe so you need to prove it. 🙂
Really Jay? Destroying and burning crops is beyond the realm of our nastiness? Our enabling the mass starvation in Yemen isn’t comparable? Our far reaching sanctions aren’t meant to destroy economies? Our destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure, part 1? Our destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure, part 2? Our 12 years of sanctioning them in between killed 1/2 million but us burning someone’s crops is “severe” and needs proving???
wars, yes, the DC Ghouls do rotten evil sh#t, but I want proof that in Syria we burned and destroyed crops, to starve Syrian civilians. I ask cechas to show proof of that, and his claim of “genocide” needs proof, that is a claim of great evil that demands documentation. 🙂
He did say the sanctions are starving Syrian people, which they are. It doesn’t really matter if the part about the burning of crops is true, it just adds to our barbarism if it is. But given our past behavior, which I mentioned, I wouldn’t doubt that is something we would do. What did we think would happen in Iraq when we destroyed their water treatment plants? To me, we have no bounds.
wars, I believe that those involved in the Iraq war, like Bushy Boi’ 2,, and others in his administration, should be tried as war criminals and jailed. The fact that none of them have is alarming to say the least.
It’s like going bowling. A 3rd party you pay sets the pins and you knock them down.
Bizarre, the USA does all this foreign play while it’s cities are torn apart by Marxist and anarchist and does not protect the common citizen from the violence,,WTF??
“The strike was carried out using a drone and a secretive missile that uses blades to shred the target to death. The missile, known as the Ninja Hellfire or the R9X, does not explode and is designed to limit civilian casualties.”
Yes, our drone program’s main problem is the collateral damage and not the fact that we play judge, jury and executioner with impunity.
Both. We kill a lot of people as collateral damage, generally more than our designated targets. That does not excuse assassinations done on flimsy “evidence” and guesses, nor cynical assassinations of peace envoys on a mission to stop wars.
Didn’t mean to downplay collateral death although the way I said it I can understand your reply. It just seemed they were saying collateral death is the problem and not the fact that we have a drone program to begin with.
During its attack on Libya, France dropped precision guided bombs filled with cement instead of explosive. A 500 lb lump of steel and concrete hitting a tank or other vehicle at those speeds was just as fatal without the actual explosion. Putting “blades” on it is not really much of a change.
Maybe it allows the glide bomb to go farther and be lighter as in 100 lb. I don’t know if the blades are for killing or to improve the flight characteristics. The targeting is the hard part, you have to be spot on.
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