The US Defence Department claims the assassination of an IS leader in Syria
A US drone strike consisting of MQ-9 Reaper drones claimed the life of an IS leader just hours after being harassed by Russian military jets in western Syria, according to the US Defence Department reports.
The assassination of IS leader al-Muhajir
Three Reaper drones were conducting a search for the militant when they were harassed for about two hours by two Russian military aircraft, SU-34 and SU-35, with close fly-bys and direct flares in the flight path of the drones. Soon after, the drones struck and killed Usamah-al-Muhajir, who was riding through Aleppo in the northwest region of Syria, reported a US defence officer, on condition of anonymity.
How the US military confirmed that the person killed was al-Muhajir is yet unclear. A US Central Command statement on Sunday said that there were no instances of civilian killings. A single civilian may have gotten some injuries, reports of which the military was assessing.
July 7 marked the third day in a row that US officials complained of Russian military jets conducting unsafe flights that harassed the American drones. The drones were previously unarmed, but carried weapons on the day of the assassination as they hunted down al-Muhajir.
The US Air Forces Central Command Head, Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, stated that the American MQ-9s had to respond to avoid hostile situations when the Russian fighter aircraft made 18 ‘unprofessional close passes’ during the encounter on Friday.
Image Source: India Today
The militaries of Russia and Syria were conducting joint training this past week, affirmed Rear Adm. Oleg Gurinov, the Russian Reconciliation Centre for Syria Head. He also denounced the incursions by the American drones as ‘systematic violations of protocols’.
Skirmishes had been taking place since Wednesday, when the Russian jets engaged in ‘unsafe and unprofessional’ action against the US drones carrying out an operation against the IS. The US military reported that on Thursday too, the Russian aircrafts had behaved in an unsafe and unprofessional manner, both with the French and the US aircraft over Syria.
Gen. Mikhael Kurilla, commander of the US Central Command, reiterated the US commitment for the alleviation of the ISIS threat and the defeat of IS leaders and followers throughout the region and beyond.
Since the previous year, Washington has amped up its operations and raids against Daesh terrorists in Syria, hunting down, killing and arresting various leaders. The US-led campaign, to which the former Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi fell victim, has since taken action, targeting the surviving operatives.
Similar instance that took place a couple of moths ago was Turkey’s claim of killing ISIS leader Abu Hussain al-Qurashi in Syria by Turkish intelligence agents.
