U.S. forces conduct raid in Syria, sources believe jihadist was target
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[February 03, 2022]
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi
AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S. special forces
successfully carried out a counter-terrorism mission in northwest Syria
on Thursday, the Pentagon said, a raid which Syrian sources said was
believed to have targeted an al Qaeda-linked jihadist.
Syrian rescue workers said at least 13 people including six children and
four women were killed by clashes and explosions that erupted after the
raid began, targeting a house in the Atmeh area near the Turkish border.
"U.S. Special Operations forces under the control of U.S. Central
Command conducted a counter-terrorism mission this evening in northwest
Syria. The mission was successful," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby
said in a statement.
"There were no U.S. casualties. More information will be provided as it
becomes available."
He did not identify the target.
A number of jihadist groups with links to al Qaeda operate in
northwestern Syria, the last major bastion of rebels fighting President
Bashar al-Assad in the decade-long Syrian war. Leaders of the Islamic
State group have also hidden out in the area.
Several rebel sources said they were almost certain the target was a
leading jihadist, but could not be sure who.
Residents said helicopters landed and heavy gunfire and explosions were
heard during the raid that began around midnight. U.S. forces used loud
speakers to warn women and children to leave the area, they said.
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A video taken by a resident and seen by Reuters showed the bodies of two
apparently lifeless children and a man in the rubble of a building at
the location.
More footage showed rescue workers loading what appeared to be a small
body wrapped in a white plastic sheet into an ambulance. Other body bags
were in the back of the vehicle.
Using head torches in the dark, the workers looked for remains through
chunks of concrete, children's soft toys and women's clothing in a
bombed-out building. A kitchen was blackened and burnt, windows hung
from their frames and plastic utensils were half melted.
Reuters could not independently verify the videos.
A Syrian man who witnessed the raid said he went out of his house after
midnight and saw aircraft in the sky.
"Ten minutes later we heard screams. 'Surrender, the house is
surrounded,'" he said. "We heard fire. There was shelling from airplanes
and machine guns."
One witness who lives nearby said he saw several bodies at the scene.
"There was blood everywhere," he told Reuters. He added that one U.S.
helicopters appeared to suffer a mechanical failure and was blown up by
the U.S. forces.
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![](../images/020322pics/news_s71.jpg)
A damaged shutter is seen on a building in the aftermath of a
counter-terrorism mission conducted by the U.S. Special Operations
Forces in Atmeh, Syria, February 3, 2022 in this picture obtained
from social media. Courtesy of Mohamed Al-Daher/via REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/03/images/ads/current/2021_lda_Businessdirectory.png) A rebel official who declined to be
named said the jihadist who was the apparent target of the raid was
with his family at the time.
Witnesses said the raid ended with aircraft, believed to be
helicopters, leaving the site but unidentified reconnaissance planes
were still hovering in the area.
JIHADIST GROUPS
Jihadists in northwestern Syria include Huras al-Din (Guardians of
Religion), an al Qaeda-affiliated faction whose leaders include
foreign fighters.
U.S. forces have used drones to target the group and other jihadists
in the area for years, but Thursday's operation appeared to be the
largest of its kind by U.S. forces in the northwest since Islamic
State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died in a U.S. special operations
raid in 2019, said Charles Lister, senior fellow with the
Washington-based Middle East Institute.
Islamic State fighters have been re-emerging as a deadly threat
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/islamic-state-hits-back-aided-by-power-vacuum-iraq-syria-2022-02-02,
aided by the lack of central control in many areas, according to a
dozen security officials, local leaders and residents in northern
Iraq.
The United States has offered rewards for information leading to the
identification of senior Huras al-Din leaders.
The most powerful group in northwestern Syria is Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham, the former Nusra Front, which was part of al Qaeda until
2016.
The rebel official said security from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group
hurried to the location after the raid.
The Atmeh area is crammed with tens of thousands of Syrians who have
been uprooted in the war and live in makeshift camps or overcrowded
housing.
(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Amman; Additional reporting by
Humeyra Pamuk and Heather Timmons; Writing by Tom Perry and Michael
Perry; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Raju Gopalakrishnan and
Nick Macfie)
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