American forces bomb terrorist leader in Syria

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted a precision airstrike in Northwest Syria, killing Wasim Tahsin Bayraqdar, a senior leadership facilitator of the terrorist organisation Hurras al-Din (HaD), an Al-Qaeda affiliate.

The airstrike is part of CENTCOM’s ongoing effort, along with partners in the region, “to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organise, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond.”

“We will relentlessly pursue and destroy terrorist threats, no matter their location, in order to protect our homeland and our allies and partners,” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander, U.S. Central Command.⁩

According to the U.S. Counterterrorism Center:

“Hurras al-Din replaced the Nusrah Front as al-Qa‘ida’s formal presence in Syria in February 2018 when al-Qa‘ida loyalists—opposed to a decision by the Nusrah Front to break from al-Qa‘ida, merge with other groups opposing the Syrian Government, and rebrand as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)—publicly announced the creation of Hurras al-Din. The group adheres to al-Qa‘ida’s Salafi-jihadist ideology, which advocates attacks against the West and Israel to expel foreign influence from Muslim lands, and it seeks to set the conditions necessary to form a new caliphate across the Levant and the broader Middle East.

Hurras al-Din maintains access to several longtime al-Qa‘ida members who could enable the group to pose a threat to US and other Western interests outside of Syria, despite its weakened state following successive personnel losses since 2019 that have removed many of the group’s veteran leaders. Moreover, an aggressive, wide-scale campaign by HTS to detain Hurras al-Din members since 2020 has hampered Hurras al-Din’s ability to conduct operations and prompted some members to defect from the group.”