European Observatory to Combat Radicalization
US uses secretive missiles to kill al-Qaeda leaders in northern Syria
The New York Times – WASHINGTON, USA (North Press) – US Special Operations forces, with no fanfare, killed a top al-Qaeda leader in northwest Syria in an unusual drone strike nearly two weeks ago.They used a secretive weapon — a so-called Ninja Hellfire missile on which the explosive warhead is replaced by long blades to crush or slice its victim while minimizing risks to any civilians nearby.
The strike allegedly killed Sayyaf al-Tunsi, a Tunisian and a high-ranking member of Hurras al-Din, a group affiliated with al-Qaeda.Hurras al-Din is an offshoot of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), previously the al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda in Syria), and was founded in 2018 by hardline members of HTS and al-Nusra, and other Islamist militant groups in the region.
the US State Department has formally designated Hurras al-Din (Guardians of Religion) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and placed “Rewards for Justice” bounties on three of its leaders.It was the second time in three months that American commandos have killed a senior al-Qaeda leader in northwest Syria with these specially designed missiles.
The strike illustrated the complexities of carrying out operations against terrorist groups in a part of the world where the United States and Russia have been warily pursuing their own objectives and occasionally coming into conflict.
US Joint Special Operations Command, with help from the CIA, has been waging this covert war against Hurras al-Din for months, which killed the former leader of the group with a Ninja Hellfire missile back in June.
Hurras al-Din regularly clashes with other al-Qaeda-linked groups on the ground, in June, battlefield conflicts between Hurras al-Din and the Nusra Front continued to escalate prompting al-Qaeda to issue a public statement condemning the fighting.
Turkey backs a rebel group in Idlib, known as the National Liberation Front (NLF). Although Turkey denies supporting HTS, the al-Qaeda-linked militants have fought alongside NLF in the past, and some reports indicate recent Turkish-HTS coordination.
Hurras al-Din is considered so dangerous that as recently as this summer, the Pentagon took the unusual step of using a special hotline to Russian commanders in Syria to allow the Special Operations forces to conduct uncontested airstrikes against the al-Qaeda leaders. Previous strikes have also attacked training camps in Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
These are rare attacks west of the unofficial dividing line between US forces to the east of the Euphrates River, and Russian and Syrian government troops to the west of the river.
Aaron Zelin, a terrorism scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said these tensions and the increasing American drone strikes are putting more pressure on Hurras al-Din.
On the other side of Syria, in the northeast, the US maintains a small occupation force and backs the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The US just sent an additional 100 troops and six Bradley Fighting Vehicles to bolster its force of about 500 soldiers. The increased US military presence came after confrontations with Russian and Syrian soldiers.
European Observatory to Combat Radicalization
