U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Saturday that a top leader of al-Qaeda in Syria was killed last month in a precision air strike.
Senior military leader of the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din (HaD), Muhammed Yusuf Ziya Talay was killed in northern Syria on February 23, officials said.
“As we have said in the past, we will continue to relentlessly pursue these terrorists in order to defend our homeland, and U.S., allied, and partner personnel in the region,” CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla said in announcing Talay’s death.
Footage of the aerial attack was released on CENTCOM's social media account.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced just one day before CENTCOM's announcement that President Donald Trump had loosened some restrictions on how the U.S. military can go after terrorist leaders overseas.
Instead of only being allowed to go after senior leadership of foreign terrorist organizations as was the case under the Biden administration, the list of who the military can target with air strikes includes other leaders.
The agreement was signed in Germany last month.
Hegseth formally approved the changes during a meeting with senior U.S. military leaders from the U.S. Africa Command.
Those who favor Trump's move believe it will be more effective in combatting terrorism abroad.
Critics worry that there will be more civilian casualties with this plan because there may be a greater number of air strikes.
Hegseth pointed out that there is popular support for Trump's plan. People want to see terrorism reduced and eradicated.
The airstrike against Talay was "part of an ongoing effort to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond," CENTCOM said in its announcement.
Al-Qaeda mostly operates today in Yemen and Africa, but was most famously responsible for the 9-11 attacks against the U.S. in 2001 that brought down the World Trade Center and killed more than 3,000 people.
