US aircraft on Sunday targeted a meeting of al Qaeda operatives in Northwest Syria, killing a senior leader whose ties to the group stretch back to operations in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The Pentagon on Monday said the strikes targeted the leaders, who are linked to Al-Nusra, the al Qaeda affiliate group in Syria. The strike killed Abu Firas al-Suri, who worked alongside Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and was linked to Yemen and then Syria. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said during a Monday briefing the strike occurred in the Northwest region of Syria, but declined to name a specific city or region. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike killed up to 20 militants, including al-Suri’s son, reported the BBC. (Watch the briefing.)
Former AFCENT Commander Reflects on Lessons of Epic Fury
Sept. 13, 2026
Operation Epic Fury marked the U.S. military's largest air campaign in a generation, with strikes on 13,000 targets in Iran before the first in a series of shaky ceasefires began in April. Now, even as hostilities continue to flare up, Lt. Gen. Derek C. France sees several clear lessons that…
