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US Drone Strike Northwest Syria Kills Senior al-Qaeda Leader

This US Air Force handout photo shows an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone) flying over the Nevada Test and Training Range on January 14, 2020. William Rosado, AFP
This US Air Force handout photo shows an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone) flying over the Nevada Test and Training Range on January 14, 2020. William Rosado, AFP
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US Drone Strike Northwest Syria Kills Senior al-Qaeda Leader

This US Air Force handout photo shows an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone) flying over the Nevada Test and Training Range on January 14, 2020. William Rosado, AFP
This US Air Force handout photo shows an MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV or drone) flying over the Nevada Test and Training Range on January 14, 2020. William Rosado, AFP

The US military announced on Friday the killing of a senior al-Qaeda leader in a drone strike in Raqqa countryside, northwest Syria.

"A US airstrike today in northwest Syria killed senior al-Qaeda leader Abdul Hamid al-Matar," said Central Command spokesman Army Major John Rigsbee in a statement.

The strike was carried out in the Suluk region, northern Syria, which is under Turkey's control.

There were no known casualties from the strike, Rigsbee said, adding it was conducted using an MQ-9 "Reaper" aircraft.

"Al-Qaeda continues to present a threat to the US and our allies," he indicated, adding that the organization uses Syria as a haven to rebuild, coordinate with external affiliates, and plan external operations.

"The removal of this al-Qaeda senior leader will disrupt the terrorist organization's ability to further plot and carry out global attacks," he said.

Matar was a member of the Guardians of Religion Organization, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that former al-Nusra Front leader, Matar, was killed in an airstrike in the al-Raqqa countryside.

It wondered why such figures would reside in areas under Turkey's control in Syria.

Last July, the US Treasury announced new sanctions on several Syrian entities, including the "Ahrar al-Sharqiya" faction, its leader Abu Hatem Shaqra, and his cousin Abu Jaafar Shaqra.

In September, the Pentagon said it killed senior al-Qaeda leader Salim Abu Ahmed in an airstrike near Idlib.

According to Centcom, he had been responsible for "planning, funding, and approving trans-regional al-Qaeda attacks."

Rigsbee did not specify whether the strike that killed Matar was in response to Wednesday's attack on the al-Tanf military base in southeastern Syria near the borders with Iraq and Jordan.

On Wednesday, SOHR reported that several blasts were heard from the Al-Tanf base used by the US-led coalition near Syria's borders with Iraq and Jordan.

"Explosions resounded from the Al-Tanf base used by the US-led coalition," fighting ISIS, the Observatory said.

According to the monitor, a "drone attack" was responsible for the blasts, adding that it is still unknown whether ISIS or the Iranian militias are behind it.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, it reported.

The al-Tanf base in southern Syria was set up in 2016 as part of the fight against the ISIS terrorist group.

Syria and its allies have repeatedly said US troops had no reason to be there.

Iran-backed forces are deployed in the vicinity of the desert outpost, which sits on the strategically significant Baghdad-Damascus highway.

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US Pulls Out of Two More Bases in Syria, Worrying Kurdish Forces

SDF forces in Syria. (AFP file)
SDF forces in Syria. (AFP file)
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US Pulls Out of Two More Bases in Syria, Worrying Kurdish Forces

SDF forces in Syria. (AFP file)
SDF forces in Syria. (AFP file)

US forces have pulled out of two more bases in northeastern Syria, visiting Reuters reporters found, accelerating a troop drawdown that the commander of US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces said was allowing a resurgence of ISIS.

Reuters reporters who visited the two bases in the past week found them mostly deserted, both guarded by small contingents of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - the Kurdish-led military group that Washington has backed in the fight against ISIS for a decade.

Cameras used on bases occupied by the US-led military coalition had been taken down, and razor wire on the outer perimeters had begun to sag.

A Kurdish politician who lives on one base said there were no longer US troops there. SDF guards at the second base said troops had left recently but declined to say when. The Pentagon declined to comment.

It is the first confirmation on the ground by reporters that the US has withdrawn from Al-Wazir and Tel Baydar bases in Hasaka province. It brings to at least four the number of bases in Syria US troops have left since President Donald Trump took office.

Trump’s administration said this month it will scale down its military presence in Syria to one base from eight in parts of northeastern Syria that the SDF controls. The New York Times reported in April that troops might be reduced from 2,000 to 500 in the drawdown.

The SDF did not respond to questions about the current number of troops and open US bases in northeastern Syria.

But SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, who spoke to Reuters at another US base, Al Shadadi, said the presence of a few hundred troops on one base would be "not enough" to contain the threat of ISIS.

"The threat of ISIS has significantly increased recently. But this is the US military’s plan. We’ve known about it for a long time ... and we’re working with them to make sure there are no gaps and we can maintain pressure on ISIS," he said.

Abdi spoke to Reuters on Friday, hours after Israel launched its air war on Iran. He declined to comment on how the new Israel-Iran war would affect Syria, saying simply that he hoped it would not spill over there and that he felt safe on a US base.

Hours after the interview, three Iranian-made missiles targeted the Al Shadadi base and were shot down by US defense systems, two SDF security sources said.

ISIS ACTIVE IN SYRIAN CITIES

ISIS ruled vast swathes of Iraq and Syria from 2014 to 2017 during Syria’s civil war, imposing a vision of religious rule under which it beheaded locals in city squares, sex-trafficked members of the Yazidi minority and executed foreign journalists and aid workers.

The group, from its strongholds in Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq, also launched deadly attacks in European and Middle Eastern countries.

A US-led military Coalition of more than 80 countries waged a yearslong campaign to defeat the group and end its territorial control, supporting Iraqi forces and the SDF.

But ISIS has been reinvigorated since the ouster of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in December at the hands of separate opposition factions.

Abdi said ISIS cells had become active in several Syrian cities, including Damascus, and that a group of foreign extremists who once battled the Syrian regime had joined its ranks. He did not elaborate.

He said ISIS had seized weapons and ammunition from Syrian regime depots in the chaos after Assad's fall.

Several Kurdish officials told Reuters that ISIS had already begun moving more openly around US bases which had recently been shuttered, including near the cities of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa, once strongholds for the extremist group.

In areas the SDF controls east of the Euphrates River, ISIS has waged a series of attacks and killed at least 10 SDF fighters and security forces, Abdi said. Attacks included a roadside bomb targeting a convoy of oil tankers on a road near the US base where he gave the interview.