US targets al-Qaeda forces in northern Syria

BEIRUT — The US military says it has struck an al-Qaeda leadership and training facility in northern Syria where attacks threatening Americans and others were being planned.

The US Central Command says in a statement that the strike occurred on Sunday near the northern province of Aleppo.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor, says today that the strike killed eight members of the al-Qaeda-linked Horas al-Din, which is Arabic for “Guardians of Religion.”

The Observatory says the dead include six commanders: two Algerians, two Tunisians, an Egyptian and a Syrian.

Al-Qaeda-linked groups control wide parts of northern Syria, mostly in Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in the war-torn country.

— AP