US clarifies Syrian targets

U.S. military officials said Thursday that although the United States recently conducted airstrikes in northern Syria against an al Qaeda cell called the Khorasan Group, another al Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, was unaffected.

“There were no strikes conducted against the al Nusra Front,” Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command said at the Atlantic Council on Thursday.  

{mosads}The United States is reportedly considering targeting the Nusra Front after it defeated two U.S.-backed rebel groups in Syria over the weekend. 

However, on Thursday, officials made clear that Wednesday’s airstrikes were targeted only at the Khorasan Group.

However, some terrorism experts say Khorasan — a group of elite al Qaeda operatives that has established a cell in Syria — and the Nusra Front are essentially the same. 

Officials also acknowledged the two groups are part of the same network. 

“The Khorasan Group is a term used to refer to a network of Nusrah Front and al-Qa’ida core extremists who share a history of training operatives, facilitating fighters and money, and planning attacks against U.S. and Western targets,” the Central Command statement said, using alternative spellings for two of the groups. 

But, it added, Wednesday’s strikes “were not in response to the Nusrah Front’s clashes with the Syrian moderate opposition, and they did not target the Nusrah Front as a whole.” 

Officials indicated that an important distinction was that the Khorasan Group was interested in attacks against the West, while the Nusra Front was focused on overthrowing the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad. 

The airstrikes “were directed at the Khorasan Group whose focus is not on overthrowing the Assad regime or helping the Syrian people. These al-Qa’ida operatives are taking advantage of the Syrian conflict to advance attacks against Western interests,” Central Command said.

“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,” the statement continued. 

The distinction in targeting has angered moderate Syrian rebels who say the al Nusra Front and Assad’s forces are making gains against them. 

It was the second time the United States has targeted the Khorasan Group. The first time was on Sept. 22, when the U.S. first conducted airstrikes in Syria. Officials said they faced an imminent threat from the group. 

On Thursday, some news reports said one of its bomb-makers, David Drugeon was killed in Wednesday’s strikes. 

Officials did not confirm those reports and said they were still assessing the outcome of the attacks. 

“We are still assessing the outcome of the attack, but have initial indications that it resulted in the intended effects,” the Central Command statement said.