US says it killed senior militant group leader in Syria

US army says target was responsible for 'overseeing terrorist operations from Syria'

Troops from the Syrian Democratic Forces and the US-led coalition near Deir Ezzor in north-eastern Syria in March 2022. AFP

US forces killed a senior leader of an Al Qaeda-affiliated group in Syria on Friday, the military said.

The US Central Command (Centcom) said that its forces had killed Abu Abdul Rahman Makki, a senior leader in the group Hurras Al Din, or Guardians of Religion.

It said Mr Makki was “responsible for overseeing terrorist operations from Syria.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said that a drone strike on a motorcycle in the southern Idlib countryside had killed Mr Makki, who it said was a Saudi.

The US military has about 900 troops in Syria as part of the international coalition against ISIS. The coalition was established in 2014 to help combat the extremists, who had taken over vast swathes of Iraq and Syria.

US forces say they periodically carry out strikes in Syria on ISIS – which has since lost the territory it once held – and other groups the US believes pose a threat.

The war monitor said that Mr Makki had been imprisoned by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham.

Last year, a drone strike in Idlib killed two members of the Hurras Al Din group.