On July 6 afternoon, a man was killed in the northern region of Syria as a result of a suspected United States drone strike.
Syrian opposition activists said that the man, who was identified some as Hammam Abu Anas al-Shami, was traveling on a motorcycle on a road between the town of al-Bab and the nearby village of Bza’a in the Turkish-occupied part of the northern Aleppo countryside when he was targeted by a combat drone. The man was killed on the spot, and a bystander was wounded.
The strike was reportedly carried out by an American MQ-9 combat drone. Several drones of this type were indeed spotted over the northern Aleppo countryside in the days leading to the strikes.
Some activists claimed that al-Shami was a senior commander of al-Qaeda-affiliated Horas al-Din. However, this is yet to be confirmed.
If confirmed, this would be the first U.S. drone strike to target Syria in more than two months. On May 3, the U.S. Central Command claimed responsibility for a strike that killed a man in the northwestern region of Greater Idlib, claiming that he was a senior leader of al-Qaeda. Later, it became known that the man was a just a civilian.
The U.S. expanded its drone operations over Syria in the last few months under the pretext of countering ISIS and other terrorist groups.
However, these uncoordinated operations are leading to tensions with Russia who accuse the U.S. of violating the flight safety protocols over the war-torn country.
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