US military strikes al-Qaida militants in Syria

By

The Associated Press

The ruins of buildings are pictured July 1, 2019, at the site where the U.S. military carried out a strike against al-Qaida-linked jihadists in Syria’s northwestern Aleppo province. (Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images)

BEIRUT — The U.S. military says it has struck an al-Qaida leadership and training facility in northern Syria where attacks threatening Americans and others were being planned.

The U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the strike occurred on Sunday near the northern province of Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor, said Monday that the strike killed eight members of the al-Qaida-linked Horas al-Din, which is Arabic for “Guardians of Religion.”

The Observatory says the dead included six commanders: two Algerians, two Tunisians, an Egyptian and a Syrian.

Al-Qaida-linked militants control wide parts of northern Syria, mostly in Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in the war-torn country.