BEIRUT: The US-led coalition said Monday its aircraft carried out a strike in northwestern Syria a day earlier that a monitor reported had killed eight extremists, including commanders, from an Al-Qaeda-linked group.
“This operation targeted AQ-S operatives responsible for plotting external attacks threatening US citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians,” US Central Command said in a statement, using an acronym for Al-Qaeda in Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said six commanders were among the slain extremists from the Hurras Al-Deen group in Aleppo province.
The killed commanders included two Tunisians, two Algerians, an Egyptian and a Syrian, the Observatory added.
“With our allies and partners, we will continue to target Daesh and Al-Qaeda to prevent both groups from using Syria as a safe haven,” US Central Command said.
Hurras Al-Deen maintains ties to Al-Qaeda and fights alongside the global extremist network’s former Syria branch, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham — which dominates most of Idlib province as well as parts of neighboring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia.
Since its formation in 2014, the US-led coalition against Deash has targeted extremist leaders in Syria’s northwest, but the strikes have dropped off significantly since 2017.
In March 2017, the Observatory said a US-led strike on a mosque in the north of Aleppo province killed 49 people, most of them civilians.
The Pentagon denied that large numbers of civilians were killed or that it had targeted the religious building, acknowledging only one possible civilian death.
The greater Idlib area was supposed to be protected by a buffer zone under a September agreement between Russia and Turkey.
But backed by its ally Moscow, Damascus has since late April ramped up its bombardment of the region, home to some three million people — nearly half of whom have been displaced from other parts of Syria.
That came after HTS took over administrative control of the Idlib region at the start of the year.
Hurras Al-Deen was established in February 2018 and has some 1,800 fighters, including non-Syrians, according to the Observatory.
US-led coalition says targeted Al-Qaeda in northwest Syria
US-led coalition says targeted Al-Qaeda in northwest Syria
- US officials said the targets were planning attacks that threaten the safety of US citizens and partners as well as civilians
- The killed commanders were from different nationalities
Trump signs charter of ‘Board of Peace’ at Davos
- Denies Board of Peace is meant as replacement for UN
- Some US allies loath to join, citing doubts about mandate
- 35 countries including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye have committed; Russia considering
DAVOS, Switzerland: US President Donald Trump on Thursday launched his Board of Peace, initially focused on cementing Gaza’s ceasefire but which he said could take a wider role that may worry other global powers, although he said it would work with the United Nations.
“Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do. And we’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations,” Trump said, adding that the UN had great potential that had not been fully utilized.
Trump, who will chair the board, invited dozens of other world leaders to join, saying he wants it to address challenges beyond the stuttering Gaza truce, stirring misgivings that it could undermine the UN’s role as the main platform for global diplomacy and conflict resolution.
Other major global powers and traditional Western US allies have balked at joining the board, which Trump says permanent members must help fund with a payment of $1 billion each, either responding cautiously or declining the invitation.
Representatives from countries introduced as founder members were present in the room as Trump spoke. But Reuters could not immediately spot any representatives from governments of other top global powers or from Israel or the Palestinian Authority.
The signing ceremony was held in Davos, Switzerland, where the annual World Economic Forum bringing together global political and business leaders is taking place.
GLOBAL ROLE
Apart from the US, no other permanent member of the UN Security Council — the five nations with the most say over international law and diplomacy since the end of World War Two — has yet committed to join.
Russia said late on Wednesday it was studying the proposal after Trump said it would join. France has declined. Britain said on Thursday it was not joining at present. China has not yet said whether it will join.
The board’s creation was endorsed by a United Nations Security Council resolution as part of Trump’s Gaza peace plan, and UN spokesperson Rolando Gomez said on Thursday that UN engagement with the board would only be in that context.
However, around 35 countries have committed to join including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkiye and Belarus.
Few of the countries that have signed up for the board are democracies, although Israel and Hungary, whose leaders are both seen as close allies of Trump and supporters of his approach to politics and diplomacy, have said they will join.
“There’s tremendous potential with the United Nations, and I think the combination of the Board of Peace with the kind of people we have here ... could be something very, very unique for the world,” Trump said.
