U.S. says it killed Islamic State group leader in Syria

RCMP say a tip was submitted about 40-year-old Ali Ben Chaoua, who allegedly made numerous posts on TikTok expressing support for ISIS.

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. airstrike killed a senior Islamic State group leader in northwest Syria last week, the U.S. military announced on Wednesday.

The June 19 strike “killed Ali Husayn al-Ulaywi and is part of ongoing U.S. efforts to disrupt and eliminate terrorists seeking to attack Americans abroad or the U.S. homeland,” the U.S. military’s Central Command said in a statement.

The United States intervened in Syria more than a decade ago to aid local Kurdish-majority forces battling the Islamic State (IS) group, which had taken over swathes of Syria and Iraq in a lightning offensive.

The U.S.-led international coalition against IS has since drawn down after the militant group was pushed out of the territory it seized, with U.S. and Syrian authorities saying in April that Syria had taken control of all major bases in the country.

U.S. forces periodically carry out strikes and raids targeting the remnants of IS, which retains sleeper cells in Syria.