US says killed military leader of Syria Al-Qaeda affiliate

Security members loyal to the new Syrian administration patrol outside Umayyad Mosque, on the first day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Damascus, Syria, March 1, 2025. (REUTERS)
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  • On February 22, it said a “precision air strike” had killed Wasim Tahsin Bayraqdar, a leader of the group which the US classifies as a terrorist organization

WASHINGTON: The US Army said Saturday it had killed a top military leader of Hurras Al-Din, a Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda which announced its dissolution in January.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM), in charge of American forces in the Middle East, said in a statement that its forces on February 23 “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.”
Since Hurras Al-Din announced in late January that it was dissolving itself, US air strikes have killed several of the group’s leaders, according to CENTCOM.
On February 22, it said a “precision air strike” had killed Wasim Tahsin Bayraqdar, a leader of the group which the US classifies as a terrorist organization.
American forces are in Syria as part of an international coalition created in 2014 to fight the terrorists of the Daesh group.
After a rebel alliance led by radical Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham toppled President Bashar Assad and took power in Damascus on December 8, Hurras Al-Din said it no longer needed to exist.
The group, including foreign jihadists, was based in mountainous northwestern Syria.