US special forces carry out operation in northwest Syria, civilians reported dead

Alannah Travers

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An overnight raid by US special operations forces targeting suspected jihadists in northwest Syria, north of Idlib and just east of the border with Turkey, has left nine people dead, including three civilians, according to a human rights monitor.

The operation took place near Atmeh in the early hours of Thursday morning, close to the Syrian border with Iskenderun, and is believed to have targeted a suspected al Qaeda-affiliated jihadist.

"Nine people at least were killed, among them two children and a woman, during the operation," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), told AFP on Thursday.

In an earlier statement, SOHR reported that reliable sources had confirmed Coalition helicopters targeting areas between Idlib and Aleppo province, near Deir Ballut village.

"The International Coalition carried out an airdrop in that area, where soldiers had called, via loudspeakers, to evacuate women and children from a house near a school in the west of Deir Ballut, before they stormed that house," the monitor said. 

Following the operation, the Pentagon Press Secretary said that no US casualties were reported.

“U.S. Special Operations forces under the control of U.S. Central Command conducted a counterterrorism mission this evening in northwest Syria," John Kirby said. "The mission was successful. There were no U.S. casualties. More information will be provided as it becomes available.”

US President Joe Biden is expected to make a further statement in the coming hours about the operation. 

The raid was carried out in the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib, home to several top al-Qaeda operatives and other militant groups including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which controls Deir Ballut, and was part of al-Qaeda until 2016.

The area is similar to the location where former leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in 2019.

Local media outlets and social media reported that during the raid, loudspeakers were used to request women and children evacuate a house belonging to a leader of a radical group in the area.

Flight-tracking data also suggested that multiple drones circled the city of Sarmada and the village of Salwah, north of the raid’s location. 

Charles Lister, a senior fellow with the Washington-based Middle East Institute, spoke with residents during the two-hour long operation.

"Nothing of this scale has happened since Baghdadi was killed in October 2019," Lister posted in the early hours.

He added that, "Very grisly photos are coming out of the targeted site in Dayr Balut," including the bodies of dead women and children.

Updated at 10:35am