The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has launched an operation in the northern Syrian city of Baghdad to capture a jihadist al-Qaeda-linked jihadist militant group, according to residents and sources close to the Syrian government. A resident spoke to Reuters news agency about at least 12 dead.
According to the agency sources, several helicopters landed near the city of Atmeh, in the province of Idlib, a rebel-held area near the border with Turkey, followed by powerful explosions, airstrikes and fire near the house of a foreign jihadist. The other side used anti-aircraft missiles, according to a source close to rebel organizations quoted by Reuters. The operation, estimated to have lasted more than two hours, ended when, according to eyewitnesses, helicopters were heard leaving the area. The identities of the victims are not yet clear.
According to a resident, rescue teams removed bodies from a high-rise building that collapsed, including women and children. Neither the State Department nor a spokesman for the US-backed coalition responded when Reuters tried to contact them for comment.
According to Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute (Washington), "whoever the target of the operation was, it is" clear "that the special forces who operated" wanted him alive ". Mr Leicester told Reuters that "this is the most important operation of its kind" since 2019, which resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (IS), in northwestern Syria. The same view was expressed by Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the non-governmental organization Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, speaking to Agence France-Presse.
Idlib province and surrounding areas are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sam (HTS) - the former Support Front (Jabhat al-Nusra), which swore allegiance to al Qaeda until 2016 - and its allies. Some dissident foreign jihadists have set up the US-designated Hura An-Din ("Guardians of Religion") terrorist organization, which has been targeted by coalition bombers. In October, the U.S. military announced the death of Abdul Hamid al-Matar, a senior al Qaeda leader, in a UAV strike in northern Syria.
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