Pentagon confirms strike against al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria’s Idlib

Pentagon confirms strike against al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria’s Idlib
September 1, 2019, 9:16 am

US forces attacked leaders of an al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria on Saturday, the Pentagon said.

The strike north of Idlib targeted leaders of the group the Pentagon calls al-Qaeda in Syria (AQ-S) whom it blamed for “attacks threatening US citizens, our partners and innocent civilians,” Lieutenant Colonel Earl Brown, a spokesman for the US Central Command said in a statement.

The spokesman added: “Northwest Syria remains a safe haven where AQ-S leaders actively coordinate terrorist activities throughout the region and in the West. With our allies and partners, we will continue to target violent extremists to prevent them from using Syria as a safe haven.”

The statement did not say what kind of weapons were used.

Earlier on Saturday, a war monitor group said that a missile attack on a gathering of al-Qaeda-linked extremist group in Syria’s Idlib province killed at least 40 militants, hours after a Russian-backed ceasefire took hold.

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