US Offers Bounty for Information on al-Qaida-Affiliated Militants in Syria

The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice
Program is offering a reward of up to $5 million each for information leading
to the identification of three leaders of an al-Qaida-affiliated jihadist group
in Syria.
The cash bounty lists three prominent leaders of
Hurras al-Din militant group, including Faruq al-Suri, Abu ‘Abd al-Karim
al-Masri and Sami al-Uraydi.
All three leaders have been active in al-Qaida for
years and remain loyal to its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, the State Department
said in a statement.
This still image from video obtained courtesy of
IntelCenter shows Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri appearing in a new Al-Qaeda
video released October 11, 2011.
FILE - This still image from video obtained courtesy
of IntelCenter shows Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri appearing in a new
al-Qaida video released Oct. 11, 2011.
Faruq al-Suri, also known as Samir Hijazi and Abu
Hammam al-Shami, a Syrian national, is the leader of the jihadist group.
According to U.S. officials, he fought in Afghanistan in the 1990s and trained
al-Qaida militants in Iraq between 2003 and 2005. This week al-Suri was
designated by the U.S. as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
Abu ‘Abd al-Karim al-Masri, an Egyptian national, is
another senior leader of Hurras al-Din. In 2018, al-Masri was a member of the
group’s shura council, the group’s highest decision-making body.
The third listed leader is Sami al-Uraydi, also
known as Abu Mahmud al-Shami. Al-Uraydi, a Jordanian national, has been a
senior sharia official for Hurras al-Din. He previously was involved in
terrorist plots against the United States and Israel, according to U.S.
officials.
Hurras al-Din emerged in Syria in early 2018 after
several factions broke away from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as
al-Nusra Front) following al-Nusra’s decision to sever ties with al-Qaida.
The group is largely based in the northwestern
Syrian province of Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in Syria, but has a
significant presence in nearby provinces, experts said.
“This is a group that prefers to keep a low
profile,” said Sadradeen Kinno, a Syrian researcher who closely follows
militant groups in Syria.
“Under al-Qaida’s guidance, Hurras al-Din has been
working quietly to build a strong foothold in Idlib and eventually in other
Syrian provinces. They are certainly seeking a permanent presence in Syria,” he
told VOA.
Kinno added that what distinguishes the Salafist
group is “their strong loyalty to al-Qaida leader al-Zawahiri.”
It is unclear how many fighters, a large number of
them being foreign and non-Syrian Arab fighter, Hurras al-Din has in Syria, but
U.S. officials and experts estimate them be in the thousands.
Hurras al-Din was one of the jihadist groups that
rejected a Russian-Turkish agreement that was reached in September 2018. The
deal, which averted a major Syrian regime offensive on Idlib and other areas
near the Turkish border, stipulates that all extremist groups must be removed
from Idlib.
In this Saturday, July 27, 2019 photo, a man rides
his motorcycle through the rubble of the old city of Aleppo, Syria. Rebels
still frequently strike with shelling and mortars into Aleppo, killing
civilians nearly three years after the government…
FILE - A man rides his motorcycle through the rubble
of the old city of Aleppo, Syria, July 27, 2019.
U.S. policy
In late June, U.S. forces carried out an airstrike
against a facility that belonged to the group near the northern Syrian province
of Aleppo. The airstrike killed at least eight commanders of the group, the
U.S. military said.
Last week, the U.S. launched another airstrike
against an al-Qaida-held facility in Idlib, without identifying the group’s
name.
“U.S. forces conducted a strike against al-Qaida in
Syria (AQ-S) leadership at a facility north of Idlib,” U.S. Central Command
said in a statement.
“This operation targeted AQ-S leaders responsible
for attacks threatening U.S. citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians,”
it said.
U.S. officials said that targeting al-Qaida and its
affiliates in Syria and elsewhere is a high priority.
“Destroying al-Qaida’s global networks is a top
priority for the Trump administration and must be for our allies as well,”
Sales of the State Department said.
Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle
East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, says Idlib is the manifestation of
what the U.S. could ultimately do in other countries, such as Afghanistan.
“In some ways, Idlib province has become a proving
ground for a future Afghanistan policy, one in which the U.S. polices against
al-Qaida without boots on the ground or direct occupation,” he told VOA.
“Washington is pursuing an ‘over the horizon’ policy
in Idlib, where it uses intelligence, drones and missile strikes to defend against
operations that could hurt Americans,” Landis added.