tied

CENTCOM says the strike in northwest Syria on Friday killed a man tied to the December attack that killed US troops and an interpreter.

The United States says an air strike in northwestern Syria has killed an al-Qaeda-affiliated leader who had ties to an ISIL (ISIS) member involved in a deadly ambush of US forces last month.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Saturday that an air strike a day earlier killed Bilal Hasan al-Jasim, who was “directly connected with the ISIS gunman who killed and injured American and Syrian personnel” in mid-December.

“There is no safe place for those who conduct, plot, or inspire attacks on American citizens and our warfighters. We will find you,” CENTCOM Commander Brad Cooper said in a statement.

Two US soldiers and a military interpreter were killed in the ISIL ambush in the Syrian city of Palmyra on December 13.

Since then, the US has carried out a series of large-scale strikes in Syria in what it says is a response to the deadly attack on US forces.

On Saturday, CENTCOM said US forces and their partners had struck more than 100 ISIL “infrastructure and weapons” sites since the US military launched its retaliatory operation in December.

“Additionally, US and partner forces have captured more than 300 ISIS operatives and killed over 20 across Syria during the past year,” it said.

US President Donald Trump had promised to inflict significant damage on those responsible for the deadly attack on US troops.

“I can tell you, in Syria, there will be a lot of big damage done to the people that did it,” Trump said on December 13.

In an exclusive interview, Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told Al Jazeera that the breakaway region of Somaliland has agreed to accept displaced Palestinians being relocated there in exchange for recognition. Somaliland officials have rejected the allegations.

WASHINGTON — President Trump has indicated that the U.S. has “hit” a facility in South America as he wages a pressure campaign on Venezuela, but the U.S. offered no other details.

Trump made the comments in what seemed to be an impromptu radio interview Friday.

The president, who called radio host John Catsimatidis during a program on WABC radio, was discussing U.S. strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, which have killed at least 105 people in 29 known strikes since early September.

“I don’t know if you read or saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So, we hit them very hard.”

Trump did not offer any additional details in the interview, including what kind of attack may have occurred. The Pentagon on Monday referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or one of the U.S. military’s social media accounts has in the past typically announced every boat strike in a post on X, but they have not posted any notice of any strike on a facility.

The press office of Venezuela’s government did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment on Trump’s statement.

Trump for months has suggested he may conduct land strikes in South America, in Venezuela or possibly another country, and in recent weeks has been saying the U.S. would move beyond striking boats and would strike on land “soon.”

In October, Trump confirmed he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela. The agency did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday.

Along with the strikes, the U.S. has sent warships, built up military forces in the region, seized two oil tankers and pursued a third.

The Trump administration has said it is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels and seeking to stop the flow of narcotics into the United States.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from power.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in an interview with Vanity Fair published this month that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro ‘cries uncle.’”

Price writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.