BEIRUT (Reuters) - An air strike killed more than 40 members of the jihadist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in northwestern Syria on Thursday night, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The group, formerly known as the Nusra Front, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Observatory said the air strike had targeted a Fateh al-Sham base in a rebel-held area west of Aleppo, and it was not clear if it had been carried out by Russian or U.S. planes. The Nusra Front renamed itself Fateh al-Sham last year when it formally dissolved ties to al Qaeda.</s>The U.S. Air Force conducted a second “major strike” in consecutive days killing over 100 Al Qaeda fighters at a training camp in northern Syria, a defense official with knowledge of the strike told a handful of reporters at the Pentagon on Friday.

A single U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber and an undisclosed number of drones dropped 14 precision-guided bombs at noon eastern time Thursday on an Al Qaeda “basic training” camp in Syria west of the city of Aleppo near the border with Turkey, according to the official.

The official described the fighters as "core Al Qaeda." A Petagon statement said the camp had been operational since at least 2013. It was not immediately clear why the camp had not been targeted earlier.

The latest strike, likely President Barack Obama’s last as commander-in-chief, comes a day after the Pentagon said two Air Force B-2 nuclear-capable bombers dropped 108 precision-guided bombs on two ISIS training camps in Libya killing 85 fighters, according to officials.

The round-the-world strike took roughly 30 hours Wednesday, as both B-2 bombers refueled five times in mid-air flying from their base in Missouri. Fifteen U.S. Air Force tankers from five bases on three continents assisted in the refueling.

B-2 BOMBERS KILL NEARLY 100 ISIS TERRORISTS IN LIBYA

A detachment of B-52 bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana have been deployed since April to the Middle East nation of Qatar to participate in strike missions against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The official said Russia had previously tried to take out the Al Qaeda training camp, but had been unsuccessful. The Russian Air Force conducts the majority of their strikes using unguided weapons during the day time. U.S. Air Force and Navy jets fly primarily at night using satellite-guided bombs.

It is not immediately clear if President Obama authorized the strike in Syria. The official said the U.S. military is authorized to conduct counter-terrorism missions against Al Qaeda anytime.

The B-52 is a Cold War-era bomber that is over 50 years old, but still has the ability to loiter over the battlefield for long periods of time and carry over 70,000 pounds of ordnance.

The defense official said no civilians were killed in the American strike in Syria and said there were no signs of Russian aircraft when the American strike took place.

In all, U.S. airstrikes have killed more than 150 Al Qaeda terrorists since Jan. 1.</s>More than 40 fighters of former al-Qaida affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front were killed in air strikes on their camp in northern Syria late on Thursday, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it could not immediately specify who carried out the strikes in the western part of Aleppo province.

A U.S.-led coalition as well as the Syrian government and its ally Russia have carried out strikes against Fateh al-Sham targets in recent weeks.

"Warplanes, which may have been Russian or coalition aircraft, struck a Fateh al-Sham camp in Jabal al-Sheikh Suleiman," the Britain-based Observatory said.

The jihadist group, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, is not party to a Russian- and Turkish-brokered ceasefire that went into effect on December 30 and has sustained major losses in air strikes in recent weeks.

Around 100 of its fighters have been killed since the start of the year, according to the monitor.

Fateh al-Sham is allied with Islamist rebel groups that are party to the ceasefire and together they control virtually all of Idlib province in the northwest as well as parts of Aleppo province.

Their alliance has scuppered previous attempts to broker a ceasefire between the government and non-jihadist rebel groups, with Damascus and its allies citing the Fateh al-Sham presence as grounds for continuing hostilities in areas they control.</s>In Syria: More than 40 jihadists killed in air strikes – monitor

The jihadist group, formerly known as Al-Nusra Front, is not party to a Russian- and Turkish-brokered ceasefire

More than 40 fighters of former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front were killed in air strikes on their camp in northern Syria late on Thursday, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it could not immediately specify who carried out the strikes in the western part of Aleppo province.

A US-led coalition as well as the Syrian government and its ally Russia have carried out strikes against Fateh al-Sham targets in recent weeks.

"Warplanes, which may have been Russian or coalition aircraft, struck a Fateh al-Sham camp in Jabal al-Sheikh Suleiman," the Britain-based Observatory said.

The jihadist group, formerly known as Al-Nusra Front, is not party to a Russian- and Turkish-brokered ceasefire that went into effect on December 30 and has sustained major losses in air strikes in recent weeks.

Around 100 of its fighters have been killed since the start of the year, according to the monitor.

Fateh al-Sham is allied with Islamist rebel groups that are party to the ceasefire and together they control virtually all of Idlib province in the northwest as well as parts of Aleppo province.

Their alliance has scuppered previous attempts to broker a ceasefire between the government and non-jihadist rebel groups, with Damascus and its allies citing the Fateh al-Sham presence as grounds for continuing hostilities in areas they control.

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Also, Like us on facebook</s>BEIRUT (AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE) - More than 40 fighters of former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front were killed in air strikes on their camp in northern Syria late on Thursday (Jan 19), a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it could not immediately specify who carried out the strikes in the western part of Aleppo province.

A US-led coalition as well as the Syrian government and its ally Russia have carried out strikes against Fateh al-Sham targets in recent weeks.</s>A US-led coalition air strike in northwestern Syria killed a top leader of al-Qaeda splinter group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham on Wednesday (18 January). Four other militants of the group were also killed in the strike on Idlib governorate, local reports said.

Abu Ibrahim al-Tunsi, the Tunisian jihadist, was reportedly a leading member of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly the al-Nusra Front.

"The air raid hit al-Tunsi's convoy in the Aqrabat district in Idlib," an activist told ARA News. However, coalition forces and the militant group are yet to confirm the leader's death.

US-led forces have targeted the splinter group's leadership in Syria in the past as well. In early January, the coalition succeeded in eliminating Abu Omar al-Turkistani, a military commander, and Abu Ali al-Tunsi, a security official. In 2016, coalition strikes killed Abu Afghan al-Masri, an Egyptian, Abu Faraj al-Masri, also an Egyptian, and Abu Omar Saraqeb, a Syrian jihadist, all leading the militant group in different capacities, the news agency reported.

Meanwhile, coalition forces also targeted Islamic State (Isis) positions in Iraq and Syria as part of their ongoing operation Inherent Resolve. In Syria, the coalition conducted 17 strikes near Abu Kamal, al-Bab, Raqqa, Ayn Isa and Dayr Az Zawr, destroying several tactical units, supply routes and oil wellheads.

The coalition also conducted six strikes in Iraq on Wednesday, mainly on Mosul, destroying three tunnel entrances, two vehicles, three vehicle-borne bombs, three barges, a watercraft, three fighting positions, three tactical vehicles, two mortars and an artillery piece, a tunnel, a fighting position, and 29 supply routes, the Pentagon said in a statement.</s>US claims air strike killed more than 100 al-Qaeda fighters just a day before President Obama left office.

A US air strike on Thursday targeting an al-Qaeda training camp in Syria killed more than 100 fighters, a US defence official said on Friday.

The strike took place just a day before the end of President Barack Obama's presidency and a day after more than 80 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) were killed in US air strikes in Libya.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the air strike was primarily carried out by a B-52 bomber and dropped 14 munitions.

The official added that the strike against the camp took place in Idlib province, west of Aleppo, and there was a high level of confidence that there were no civilian casualties.

A US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes and supporting local forces in Syria to oust ISIL.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday that an air strike killed more than 40 members of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly al Qaeda's Syrian branch) in northwestern Syria.

It was not immediately clear if this strike was the same one the US defence official was referring to.

A source in Fateh al-Sham confirmed that dozens had died in air strikes on a training camp in western Aleppo's countryside.

Jabhat Fateh al-Sham split from al-Qaeda in July, a move analysts said was aimed at easing pressure from both Russia and the United States.

However the group is not party to a Russian and Turkish-brokered ceasefire that went into effect on December 30.

According to the monitor, the group has sustained major losses in recent weeks with about 100 of its fighters killed since the start of 2017.

The Syrian conflict started in March 2011 as a largely unarmed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and quickly emerged into a full-scale civil war.</s>A U.S. airstrike has killed more than 100 al-Qaida fighters at a military training camp in Syria, a U.S. defense official told VOA Friday.

 

 A Boeing B-52 strategic bomber targeted the camp Thursday. It was located west of Aleppo in Idlib province, the defense official said.

 

 The camp previously had been occupied by the militant group Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formally known as al-Nusra Front, before al-Qaida started using it for basic military training.

 

 “This has been a well-known training camp for around two years,” the official added.

 

 All of the militants were in one building at the time of the strike, and no women or children were present at the camp, according to the official.</s>WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Al-Tunisi was a member of al-Qaeda's local affiliate Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front. The terror group has been fighting in Syria against government forces since the outbreak of a civil war in the country in 2011.

"Boussadoun's death will degrade al-Qaida's pool of experienced, well-connected facilitators and fighters with external operations experience," Cook stated.

Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham is designated as a terrorist organization and is banned in Russia and numerous other countries around the world.

Never miss a story again — sign up to our Telegram channel and we'll keep you up to speed!</s>U.S. officials say the country's air force has carried out trikes on a militant camp in Syria, killing more than 100 Al-Qaeda fighters, marking the final counterterrorism attack carried out under U.S. President Barack Obama.

Military officials say a B-52 bomber and an undisclosed number of U.S. drones took part in the raid shortly after sundown on January 19 west of Aleppo near the border with Turkey.

They described the militants killed in the air strikes as "core" Al-Qaeda members.

Most are thought to have traveled to Syria in 2016 to establish a foothold there, and were not thought to have been members of the group formerly known as the Al-Nusra Front -- an Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria at least until 2016, when the group claims that it cut all of its ties with any "external entity."

On January 19, the U.S. military said it killed an Al-Qaeda leader in an air strike in the same area of Idlib Province on January 17.

He was named as Mohammad Habib Boussadoun al-Tunisi, a Tunisian and an "external operations" planner for Al-Qaeda.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
An airstrike kills more than 40 Jabhat Fateh al-Sham fighters at a jihadist camp west of Aleppo. It is currently unknown whether American or Russian planes carried out the attack.