US targets al-Qaida militants in Syria

Associated Press

BEIRUT

U.S. aircraft fired missiles at al-Qaida militants in Syria for a third time as part of the international campaign against Islamic extremists, American officials and a Syrian activist said.

American defense officials said the strike took place Thursday and targeted the Khorasan group, which the U.S. says is a special cell within al-Qaida’s Syrian branch — known as the Nusra Front — plotting attacks against Western interests. The officials did not provide any details and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Later Friday, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement that a U.S. airstrike “struck terrorists associated with a network of veteran al-Qaida operatives, sometimes called the Khorasan group, who are plotting external attacks against the United States and our allies.” CENTCOM said the airstrike was conducted in northwest Syria west of Aleppo province.

Syrian activist Asaad Kanjo said the attack occurred near the town of Harem in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province near the Turkish border. He said residents reported seeing a drone fire two missiles that struck a Nusra Front base, killing at least two people.

It was the third time the U.S. has bombed the Nusra Front since the American-led coalition began conducting airstrikes in Syria in September against the Islamic State group and other extremists. The U.S. military says the attacks that have hit the Nusra Front have targeted only the Khorasan group and have not hit the wider Nusra organization.