US eliminates top leader of Al-Qaeda branch in Syria

(A7) The United States military announced on Saturday that it had eliminated a senior military leader of Hurras al-Din, a Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda that declared its dissolution in January, AFP reported.

 In a statement, US Central Command (CENTCOM), responsible for American forces in the Middle East, confirmed that on February 23, its forces “conducted a precision airstrike in Northwest Syria, targeting and killing Muhammed Yusuf Ziya Talay, the senior military leader of the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din.”

Following the group’s announcement of its disbandment in late January, US strikes have continued to target and eliminate several of its key figures, according to CENTCOM.

Just one day earlier, on February 22, CENTCOM reported another “precision air strike” that resulted in the death of Wasim Tahsin Bayraqdar, another senior figure in the group, which the US designates as a terrorist organization.

In mid-February, CENTCOM announced that its forces eliminated a senior finance and logistics official in Hurras al-Din.

In late January, the US eliminated senior Hurras al-Din member Muhammad Salah al-Za’bir in a strike in Syria.

Hurras al-Din, which included foreign jihadists and operated from mountainous northwestern Syria, announced its dissolution after a coalition of rebel groups, led by the radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, seized power in Damascus on December 8, ousting President Bashar Al-Assad.

In August of last year, the US killed Hurras al-Din senior leader Abu-’Abd al-Rahman al-Makki in a targeted kinetic strike in Syria.

In 2022, a US strike eliminated Abu Hamzah al Yemeni, who was a senior member of Hurras al-Din. He was hit while riding by himself on a motorcycle.