BEIRUT: At least 40 fighters were killed on Saturday in Syria after a missile attack targeted their meeting in the northwestern province of Idlib, a war monitor said. “A missile attack targeted a meeting held by the leaders of Hurras al Deen, Ansar al Tawhid and other allied groups inside a training camp” near Idlib city, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The attack killed “at least 40” leaders, the Britain-based monitor said. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, or if the missiles were launched from war planes or positions on the ground, the Observatory said.
An AFP correspondent saw clouds of black smoke rising over the area after blasts rocked the fighter stronghold.
Ambulances rushed to the site of the attack, which was closed off to journalists, he said.
The Al Qaeda-linked Hurras al Deen and their allies Ansar al Tawhid both operate in the Idlib region, where bombardment by Damascus and Moscow came to a halt on Saturday morning after the government agreed to a Russian-backed ceasefire following four months of deadly bombardment.
Both groups are members of a joint operation room that also includes Al Qaeda’s former Syria affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al Sham.
Hurras al Deen was established in February 2018 and has some 1,800 fighters, including non-Syrians, according to the Observatory.
On July 1 the United States claimed it had carried out a strike on Hurras al Deen in northwestern Syria, in its first such operation there in two years.
“US forces conducted a strike against Al Qaeda in Syria (AQ-S) leadership at a training facility,” US Central Command said in a statement at the time.
The Observatory had reported eight members of the Al Qaeda-linked group, including six commanders, were killed in a June 30 attack.
The United States had previously carried out several strikes in northwestern Syria, but they appeared to have petered out since 2017.
Meanwhile, Turkey will launch its own operation to establish a “safe zone” in Syria if talks with the United States fail to give Turkish troops control of the area within a few weeks, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.
Washington and Ankara have been at odds over plans for the region in northeastern Syria where the US-backed force led by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia have been fighting IS.
Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist group because it says it has links to Kurdish militants in Turkey.
Turkey and the United States have set up a joint operation centre for the planned zone along the border with Turkey but have disagreed over the size of the zone or the command structure of the forces to operate there. — Reuters
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