The United States Army have killed a top military leader of Hurras al-Din, a Syrian branch of al-Qaeda which announced its dissolution in January.

 

The U.S. Central Command, CENTCOM, which is in charge of American forces in the Middle East, said in a statement on Saturday.

 

According to CENTCOM, its forces on February 23 “conducted a precision airstrike in Northwest Syria, targeting and killing Muhammed Yusuf Ziya Talay, the senior military leader of the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din”.

 

Since Hurras al-Din announced in January that it was dissolving itself, U.S. airstrikes have killed several of the group’s leaders, according to CENTCOM.

 

On February 22, it said a “precision air strike” had killed Wasim Tahsin Bayraqdar, a leader of the group which the US classifies as a terrorist organization.

 

The U.S forces are in Syria as part of an international coalition created in 2014 to fight the extremists of ISIS.

 

This comes after “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” toppled President Bashar al-Assad and took power in Damascus last December.