U.S. Central Command on Friday targeted and killed an al-Qaeda leader in northwest Syria who is directly tied to the ISIS sniper who killed two Iowa National Guardsmen and their U.S. interpreter on Dec. 13. U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Travis Knauss
U.S. Central Command carried out an airstrike that killed alleged al-Qaeda terrorist leader Bilal Hasan al-Jasim in Syria on Friday in retaliation for the deaths of two service members and their interpreter.
Al-Jasim was affiliated with al-Qaeda and “directly connected” to the ISIS gunman who ambushed two U.S. service members and their civilian interpreter on Dec. 13 in Palmyra, Syria, CENTCOM said in a news release on Saturday.
“The death of a terrorist operative linked to the death of three Americans demonstrates our resolve in pursuing terrorists who attack our forces,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander.
“There is no safe place for those who conduct, plot or inspire attacks on American citizens and our warfighters,” Cooper said. “We will find you.”
The deadly airstrike occurred in an unidentified locale in northwest Syria and was the third retaliatory strike carried out by U.S. forces as part of Operation Hawkeye Strike.
The operation is named in honor of Iowa National Guardsmen Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Marshalltown and Des Moines, Iowa, respectively, who died in the Dec. 13 ambush. So did civilian interpreter Ayad Mansoor Sakat, 54, of Macomb Township, Mich.
Three other U.S. soldiers and several Syrian personnel were wounded in the sniper ambush.
CENTCOM did not say if al-Jasmin was the only person killed in the strike or how his body was identified.
The U.S. military and its partners in Syria have killed more than 20 ISIS operatives and captured more than 300 since launching Operation Hawkeye Strike, according to CENTCOM.
They have used more than 200 precision weapons to strike more than 100 ISIS infrastructure and weapons targets.
