USA bekräftar att man låg bakom flyganfallet, alternativt drönarattacken, riktad mot den högt uppsatte al-Nusra-ledaren Abu Firas al-Suri. Ännu inte helt klart att al-Suri dog i attacken.
Citat:
A U.S. air strike in northwest Syria on Sunday hit a meeting of senior al Qaeda officials at which prominent leader Abu Firas al-Suri was present, the Pentagon spokesman said on Monday.
The U.S. military is still assessing whether al-Suri died in the strike, said the spokesman, Peter Cook. He declined to say whether the strike was carried out by a manned or unmanned aircraft.
"We deemed that he (al-Suri)was present at that meeting and we're trying to determine if he has been removed from the battlefield," Cook said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-airstrike-idUSKCN0X11XK
Independent beskriver al-Suri som "moderat", kanske inte helt utan ironi.
al-Suri var en länk mellan al-Nusra och den sk moderata oppositionen. När nu USA dödar al-Suri, spekulerar man om att den sk moderata oppositionen kommer att fundera över om USA och Ryssland enats om att behålla Assad.
Citat:
Abu Firas al-Suri: Who was the 'moderate' Jabhat al-Nusra leader killed in an air strike in Idlib?
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Some of what is left of the ‘moderate’ rebels held that Abu Firas was someone they could work with in opposing both the Damascus regime and Isis. If initial reports that he died in a US drone strike prove to be true, it will reinforce conspiracy theories among them that the Americans and the Russians are secretly working in cahoots to keep Bashar al-Assad in power.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/abu-firas-al-suri-who-was-the-moderate-jabhat-al-nusra-leader-killed-in-an-air-strike-in-idlib-a6968 011.html
Frågan är om nu inte USA efter sin gigantiska felbedömning av den sk moderata oppositionen, tagit sitt förnuft tillfånga. Det finns inget alternativ till Assad som det ser ut idag.