BEIRUT, Mar 6: An attack targeting leaders of the jihadist Al-Nusra Front in Syria killed several leaders of the Al-Qaeda affiliate in the northwestern province of Idlib, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights yesterday said “a number of Al-Nusra Front leaders were killed” in the attack as they gathered for a meeting, but was unable to say if its chief, Abu Mohamed al-Jolani, was among them.
“It’s not clear if the attack was carried out by the coalition or the regime, and there is contradictory information over the fate of Abu Mohamed al-Jolani… Amid reports that he was at the place of the attack,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Abdel Rahman, whose group relies on a network of sources on the ground for its reports, was referring to the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against jihadists in Iraq and Syria since last year, and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Thursday’s attack came after Al-Nusra Front overran Base 46 — the main operations centre of the Western-backed Hazm movement in the neighbouring province of Aleppo.
Pentagon spokesman, Colonel Steve Warren, said: “We cannot confirm press reports of the deaths of senior al-Nusra leaders near the province of Idlib.”
However, he added: “Neither the US or the coalition have conducted airstrikes near that location in recent days.” (AGENCIES)
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