US announces killing of Al-Qaeda leader in Syria

The US military on Tuesday evening announced the killing of a senior Al-Qaeda leader in a recent strike carried out inside Syria.

In an official statement, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the operation took place on 2 October.

It said Mohammed Abdulwahab al-Ahmad, a senior Al-Qaeda figure, was killed in the strike, without disclosing the location of the operation.

Some news outlets shared an image of a heavily damaged vehicle, allegedly struck in the operation that killed Ahmad.

CENTCOM added that Ahmad was a responsible for planning attacks for Al-Qaeda, without further details.

The military added that US forces remain deployed in the Middle East to "disrupt and prevent" terrorist efforts to plan attacks.

The United States has for years maintained a troop presence at a series of bases in Syria as part of efforts against the Islamic State (IS) militant group, which overran swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014.

US forces, sometimes backed by Kurdish-led forces which control northeast Syria, periodically target the militant group's remnants with raids or strikes to prevent its resurgence.

In July, a first of its kind joint operation between CENTCOM and Syrian government forces killed a senior IS group leader and his two sons in northern Syria.

Iraqi forces have also taken part in operations against the group in Syria. In September, Iraq's counterterrorism service announced an IS leader was killed inside neighbouring Syria in a joint operation with US forces.

Despite losing its self-proclaimed caliphate in 2019, IS continues to operate some cells and has claimed several attacks in Syria, which is still reeling from more than 14 years of civil war.

The Syrian conflict – which erupted in 2011 after the now-deposed Assad regime violently crushed peaceful protests – drew in several foreign armies and militant groups, many of them extremist.

Turkey, Israel, and Russia also have a military presence in different parts of Syria.

Admiral Brad Cooper was recently appointed by Washington as the new head of CENTCOM.