US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said its forces launched a “unilateral strike” in Syria on Monday and claimed it killed a senior ISIS leader.
CENTCOM said the man’s name was Khalid Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri and claimed he was responsible for planning terrorist attacks in Europe and Turkey. The command said no civilians were harmed in the strike, but the Pentagon is notorious for undercounting civilian casualties.
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the US attack was a drone strike and hit a target in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, which is mainly controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an al-Qaeda-linked group.
Also on Tuesday, CENTCOM released a summary of its operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in March. According to the command, it was involved in nine “partnered operations” in Syria that killed a total of two ISIS “operatives” and detained 11 more.
While the US says it’s in Syria to fight ISIS, the presence is also part of the economic campaign against Damascus. By backing the Kurdish-led SDF, the US controls a sizeable portion of eastern Syria and controls most of the country’s oil fields.
The US occupation of Syria always risks sparking a wider war as US bases in the region often come under attack. A US contractor was killed in a recent escalation that led the US to launch airstrikes against what the Pentagon said were Iranian-aligned groups and killed eight militants, although Tehran denied the US account.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley recently visited Syria and said fighting ISIS was worth the risk of staying in the country. But Damascus and its allies are all sworn enemies of ISIS and would continue to fight against the terror group if the US withdraws.
“the US controls a sizeable portion of eastern Syria and controls most of the country’s oil fields”
the entire article in a nutshell
Yawn…. Funny, I thought that was spelled SCENTCOM.
As in “stench”.
Dude, our drones are so smart! …How smart are they? They kill “senior ISIS leaders” in houses or cars full of civilians. Even if they miss, they only kill “ISIS leaders” and save all the civilians. (Sarcasm alert)
More leaders! Amazing. People danced in streets for Onama killing someone declared Isama Bin Laden. Nobody saw the corpse, disposed at sea.
Every president since is trying to emulate the formula.
Where exactly was he killec? Somewhere in desert so no witnesses? That same “desert” ISIS myth says. Where they have secret towns, ammunition factories, source of water and energy, vehicle mainr shops, etc etc.
And we still do not know where exactly. Syria is not that big and has no caves. Where is the super duper satelite to ferret them out? Joke.
ISIS should be training the Ukrainian troops instead of the US training them. The way they crank out “senior leaders” is nothing short of impressive. Sometimes it’s like there are more senior leaders than regular troops. And we know the pentagon wouldn’t fib about this.
LOL. Very impressive indeed.