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Girls and kids amongst residents killed in US-led Idlib raid

IDLIB, Syria — The US Division of Protection has confirmed that US Particular Forces carried out a counterterrorism mission in Dayr Balut, northwest Syria, on Feb. 2, killing IS chief Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.

Charles Lister, director on the Washington-based Center East Institute, defined on Twitter that the raid lasted for over two hours because the forces clearly needed to get their goal useless or alive. He famous that nothing of this scale has occurred since former Islamic State (IS) chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in October 2019.

Through the operation, clashes erupted close to the city of Atmeh in Idlib on the border with Turkey. Helicopters of the US-led coalition additionally landed close to the Atmeh camps searching for needed individuals whose identities haven’t but been revealed.

Locals shared audio recordings attributed to the coalition, through which an Arabic speaker known as on girls and kids to evacuate their properties within the focused space, whereas residents additionally reported listening to shelling and gunshots.

Fahd al-Khal, a younger man who was displaced from the Idlib countryside to the Atmeh camp, informed Al-Monitor, “We awakened terrified at round 1 a.m. Turkish troopers got here working, struggling to warn us in Arabic and asking all civilians to evacuate the realm. The raids lasted for over two hours and so they stored getting nearer and nearer; it was terrifying.”

The constructing the place the raid occurred, Feb. 3, 2022 (Muwaid Al-Atrash/Al-Monitor)

Khal added, “We couldn’t rely what number of helicopters there have been, however the sound of shelling, blended with the sirens and the folks’s screams had been traumatizing. Two events had been clearly clashing. The shelling then reached the home through which I dwell with my household in Atmeh camp. It was chaotic and random. We had youngsters in the home so we had been naturally scared for our lives. We then heard an ambulance outdoors and after we had been in a position to exit, we certainly discovered an ambulance making an attempt to evacuate residents.”

Abed al-Youssef, one other eyewitness who was displaced from the Idlib countryside to the Atmeh camp, informed Al-Monitor that he heard helicopters, “very loud and shut,” at 1:30 a.m.

He added, “We then heard sirens, adopted by shelling and heavy machine weapons. Our youngsters had been traumatized. We had been displaced to a camp to flee the shelling and now we needed to relive it right here.” He and his neighbors heard the helicopters go away at about 4:30 a.m.

“There have been a number of helicopters coming from completely different instructions, and one may inform from the sound whether or not they had been coming from the fitting aspect or left aspect,” he mentioned. “It was a really tough evening for us. I’m sure nobody was in a position to sleep. Lots of of households dwell on this camp, and I’m positive they had been all alert and making an attempt to determine what was occurring as nobody may step outdoors to see.”

At first, Youssef mentioned, they thought the Syrian regime was getting into the camp. At dawn, they went outdoors, and “the scenes of all of the useless youngsters and girls had been horrific.”

Contained in the constructing the place IS chief Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi had been dwelling, Feb. 3, 2022 (Muwaid Al-Atrash/Al-Monitor)

Sources informed Al-Monitor that three girls had been killed contained in the focused home in Atmeh, however it stays unknown whether or not they had been Qurayshi’s wives.

On Feb. 3, Agence France-Presse quoted a US official saying that as US forces approached the compound, “Qurashi detonated a bomb that killed him and members of his household,” together with youngsters and girls had been among the many victims.

US President Joe Biden introduced that his nation’s military “had taken a serious terrorist chief off the battlefield,” noting that every one US troopers made it out safely.

The New York Times reported that the US Particular Forces needed to destroy one of many helicopters collaborating within the operation when it was compelled to land as a consequence of a mechanical downside. The US helicopter was discovered close to the city of Jindires within the countryside of Afrin, north of Aleppo, 14 kilometers from Atmeh

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