Video: US helicopter strike in Syrian territory
Here's video footage of Sunday's US helicopter strike in Syria from a Syrian news station (translation by MEMRI). Let's go to the videotape.Hot Air reported Sunday night that the target of the strike - which was apparently at a group of mercenaries trying to flee from Iraq over the border into Syria - was Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
The only two people I can think of who might justify an operation in Syria are al-Masri, the leader of AQI, and Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who’s long been rumored to be hiding out there. Roggio will have other guesses, certainly. A snatch and grab operation of some high-ranking insurgent would explain why boots were on the ground and why they felt they had to act now, even with the election so near. Short of that, the only explanation I can come up with is that there was some sort of cargo in transit that simply had to be seized and secured, even at the risk of casualties.Read the whole thing and watch the videos - he makes a good case.
At Long War Journal, Bill Roggio reports on Monday morning that the target was al-Qaeda's coordinator in Syria, Abu Ghadiya.
Read the whole thing.The US military incursion into Syria was aimed at the senior leader of al Qaeda's extensive network that funnels foreign fighters, weapons, and cash from Syria into Iraq, a senior intelligence official told The Long War Journal.
US special operations hunter-killer teams entered Syria in an attempt to capture Abu Ghadiya, a senior al Qaeda leader who has been in charge of the Syrian network since 2005. US intelligence analysts identified Ghadiya as the leader of the Syrian network, The Washington Post reported in July. Ghadiya was identified as a “major target” by the US military in February 2008.
...
Ghadiya, whose real name is Badran Turki Hishan al Mazidih, is an Iraqi from the northern city of Mosul. Ghadiya succeeded Suleiman Khalid Darwish, a Syrian national and lieutenant of Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the former leader of al Qaeda in Iraq who was killed by US forces in June 2006. US forces killed Darwish in a raid in Al Qaim in June 2005.
UPDATE 12:21 PM (Boston Time)
Ace of Spades is reporting that Abu Ghadiya was killed in Sunday's raid (Hat Tip: Lawhawk via Little Green Footballs).
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:42 PM
3 Comments:
Congrats to the American Military on their successful elimination of evil doers...
Allah BLESSES the USA with success!
ALLAH has willed the destruction of these people and as proof has shown how tens of thousands of other misguided false moslems have died!
Praise Allah for this sweet blessing!
Here's the latest update as to the main target killed: Haji Omar Khan.
It was interesting reading the Fox News article, actually a feed from al-AP, about the strike.
Here's an excerpt.
"Eight people in total were killed in the raid, which Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem called an act of "criminal and terrorist aggression."
al-AP says "eight people". In non-moral-equivalence English, that means more exactly "Eight Al Qaeda terrorists".
"...During their funerals, angry residents shouted anti-American slogans and carried banners reading: "Down with Bush and the American enemy."
In Police-State-Syria, that means the residents were ordered out by the Syrian Secret Police to do a photo-op "protest". I'd guess it's more likely that the villagers privately breathed a huge sigh of relief that Al Qaeda operations in their village were terminated, along with the terrorists.
Congratulations to the US Special Forces for this successful raid.
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