Airstrikes conducted by the United States had killed more than 100 fighters of the al Qaeda in Syria, the Pentagon claimed on Friday. The attacks on Thursday targetted a training camp in the war-torn country’s Idlib province, Reuters reported.
The Shaykh Sulayman training camp is believed to have been operational since 2013, defence spokesperson Captain Jeff Davis said in a statement. “The removal of this training camp disrupts training operations and discourages hardline Islamist and Syrian opposition groups from joining or cooperating with al-Qaeda on the battlefield,” he added.
“These strikes, conducted in quick succession, degrade al Qaeda’s capabilities, weaken their resolve and cause confusion in their ranks,” the Pentagon spokesperson said, adding that US airstrikes had killed more than 150 al Qaeda militants since the year began. These strikes on the training camp come a day after more than 80 fighters of the Islamic State group were killed in US airstrikes in Libya.
The operation in Syria was carried out by a B-52 bomber and an undisclosed number of US aerial drones, AP reported. A defence official described the militants killed in Syria as core members of the al Qaeda who were part of a group earlier known as the Nusra Front, an affiliate of the terror outfit in the country.
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