A US drone strike against the Idlib Governorate in northern Syria has killed two people, according to reports from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. US Central Command (CENTCOM) says that one of the slain people was a “senior operative” of al-Qaeda affiliate Hurras al-Din.
The attack took place outside of the town of Orm al-Jouz. It is the second confirmed US drone strike against the Idlib Governorate since President Trump took office last month. The previous strike, on January 30, killed Hurras al-Din member Muhammad Salah al-Za’bir, according to CENTCOM. He too was called a “senior operative” at the time.
Beyond being the second strike against Hurras al-Din in Idlib Governorate since the new administration came to power in the US, it is also the second strike since Hurras al-Din announced it was dissolving and ending operations. They made this announcement January 29, in a statement declaring Sunni “triumph” over former President Bashar al-Assad.
Assad was ousted in December by al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), one of many distinct Islamist groups that were holed up in Idlib during the civil war. With Sunni Islamists already in power, it was seen that Hurras al-Din really didn’t see much of an impetus for continuing to fight. Dissolving does not appear to have stopped them from being a US target, however.
Sunday’s drone strike on Idlib is also noteworthy because Syria’s de facto leader from the HTS, Ahmed al-Sharaa (previously known as Mohammad al-Jolani), was visiting the Idlib Governorate for the first time since he had taken power. Sharaa was the effective ruler of Idlib for years before the offensive left him in control of all of Syria.
Sharaa was not present at the time of the US drone strike, having moved on to neighboring Aleppo Province. He is the first sitting ruler of Syria to visit Idlib since Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, visited the area, reportedly in the 1970s.
The strikes raise questions about the Trump Administration’s stance toward Syria’s new government. The strikes did not directly target the government itself, but did attack a group that is at least ideologically similar to HTS, or was before it’s dissolution.
