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President Donald Trump revealed that U.S. forces conducted an airstrike against an al-Qaeda leader in Syria over the weekend.
The president shared the update in a Truth Social post, congratulating CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Kurilla for his leadership in the operation.
“US forces conducted a precision airstrike against a member of al-Qaeda in Syria this weekend. The terrorist leader was working with al-Qaeda across the region,” Trump wrote.
“Congratulations to CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Kurilla, and the US warfighters who dealt Justice to another Jihadi threatening America and our allies and partners,” he added.
CENTCOM also released a statement following the successful operation.
“On Feb. 15, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Forces conducted a precision airstrike in Northwest Syria targeting and killing a senior finance and logistics official in the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din (HaD), an Al-Qaeda affiliate,” the statement noted.
“The airstrike is part of CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond,” it continued.
“We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists in order to defend our homeland, and U.S., allied, and partner personnel in the region,“ said Kurilla.
The operation marked at least the fifth airstrike carried out or facilitated by CENTCOM against ISIS and Hurras al Din since Trump took office.
Strikes against ISIS have occurred in Iraq, conducted by Iraqi forces, while all operations targeting Hurras al Din have taken place in neighboring Syria. US Africa Command forces have separately launched at least two airstrikes in the past month against ISIS-Somalia terrorists in eastern Africa.
The events came after Syrian President Bashar Assad fled the country and rebels stormed the capital of Damascus in December
Trump shared a response in a lengthy post to Truth Social at the time, claiming, “Assad is gone.”
“Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector, Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer. There was no reason for Russia to be there in the first place. They lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, where close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead, in a war that should never have started, and could go on forever,” Trump wrote.