SULAIMANI (ESTA) — U.S. special forces successfully conducted a counter-terrorism mission in northwest Syria on Thursday, the Pentagon said.
“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.
Kirby further said there were no U.S. casualties.
Reuters cited Syrian sources as saying that the raid was believed to have targeted an al Qaeda-linked group.
The Associated Press said the operation, which residents say lasted about two hours, jolted the sleepy village of Atmeh near the Turkish border.
A number of militant 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, Reuters reported.
Leaders of the Islamic State (ISIS) group have also hidden out in the area.
Residents told Reuters that 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.
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.
It was the largest raid in the province since the 2019 U.S. assault targeting the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Idlib is broadly controlled by Turkey-backed fighters, but is also an Al-Qaida stronghold and home to several of its top operatives. Other militants have also found refuge in the region.
