US renews airstrikes on Khorasan Group

The U.S. military announced Wednesday it struck the Khorasan Group in an airstrike earlier this week. 

The airstrike took place in northwest Syria near Haram and destroyed a storage facility associated with the group, which the Pentagon described as “a network of veteran al Qaeda operatives” whose members are plotting external attacks against the U.S. and its allies. 

{mosads}Haram, located in central western Syria, is farther west than three previous U.S. strikes against the group that occurred Sept. 23, Nov. 5 and between Nov. 12-14.

Defense officials say they targeted French bomb-maker and al Qaeda convert David Drugeon in the Nov. 5 strikes but have not been able to confirm whether he has been killed. 

Wednesday’s strikes represent a continuation of targeting the group, although the U.S. has refrained from striking another al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front. 

The connection between the Khorasan Group and the Nusra Front remain murky, however. The Pentagon has acknowledged both are in the same “network.” 

“The Khorasan Group is a term used to refer to a network of Nusra Front and al Qaeda core extremists who share a history of training operatives, facilitating fighters and money, and planning attacks against U.S. and Western targets,” the military said on Nov. 5. 

The military has made a distinction between the Khorasan Group and the Nusra Front, “whose focus is not on overthrowing the Assad regime or helping the Syrian people.” 

“These al Qaeda operatives are taking advantage of the Syrian conflict to advance attacks against Western interests,” U.S. Centcom said of the Khorasan Group. 

“This network was plotting to attack in Europe or the homeland, and we took decisive action to protect our interests and remove their capability to act. We will continue to take any action necessary to disrupt attack plotting against U.S. interests,” it said. 

Before the Sept. 23 strike, the U.S. had not acknowledged publicly that the group existed but said the first set of strikes were taken to “disrupt the imminent attack plotting against the United States and Western interests,” which established a safe haven in Syria to recruit Westerners to conduct operations.