<p>The US army said Thursday it carried out a drone strike against Al-Qaeda leaders in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border, killing 17 jihadists, according to a war monitor.</p>.<p>The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five civilians were also among those killed.</p>.<p>"US Forces conducted a strike against a group of Al-Qaeda in Syria (AQ-S) senior leaders meeting near Idlib, Syria," said Major Beth Riordan, the spokeswoman for United States Central Command (CENTCOM).</p>.<p>"The removal of these AQ-S leaders will disrupt the terrorist organisation's ability to further plot and carry out global attacks threatening US citizens, our partners and innocent civilians," Riordan said in a statement.</p>.<p>She did not specify the number of deaths from the strike.</p>.<p>But the Britain-based Observatory said the operation, which targeted a dinner meeting of jihadists in the village of Jakara in the Salqin area, killed at least 17 jihadists including 11 leaders.</p>.<p>The village lies in Syria's last major rebel bastion of Idlib, which is dominated by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, led by a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, and its rebel allies.</p>.<p>But other jihadist groups, including the rival Al-Qaeda-linked Hurras al-Deen faction, are also present in the area.</p>.<p>Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said that five non-Syrian jihadists were among those killed, but their nationalities were not immediately known.</p>.<p>"They had been invited to dinner in a tent on a farm in Jakara," he said.</p>.<p>"It was a meeting of leaders opposed to HTS and who reject the Russia-Turkish deals" that led to a fragile truce in Idlib, he said. "Some were close to Hurras al-Deen."</p>.<p>A March agreement between rebel backer Ankara and government ally Moscow halted a deadly offensive by government forces against the region of some three million people.</p>.<p>A US-led coalition is present in the east of the country, where its airstrikes have backed Kurdish-led forces battling remnants of the Islamic State group.</p>.<p>Thursday's strike came after it emerged that the 18-year-old who killed a school teacher in France last week for showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in class had been in contact with a Russian-speaking jihadist in Syria.</p>.<p>A source close to the case said the identity of the Russian-speaking jihadist was not yet known, but French newspaper Le Parisien claimed the person's IP address was traced to Idlib.</p>.<p>After a string of military victories backed by key ally Russia, the Syrian government has regained control of around 70 percent of the country, the Observatory says.</p>.<p>The war, which broke out after the bloody suppression of anti-government protests in 2011, has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced millions from their homes.</p>
<p>The US army said Thursday it carried out a drone strike against Al-Qaeda leaders in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border, killing 17 jihadists, according to a war monitor.</p>.<p>The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five civilians were also among those killed.</p>.<p>"US Forces conducted a strike against a group of Al-Qaeda in Syria (AQ-S) senior leaders meeting near Idlib, Syria," said Major Beth Riordan, the spokeswoman for United States Central Command (CENTCOM).</p>.<p>"The removal of these AQ-S leaders will disrupt the terrorist organisation's ability to further plot and carry out global attacks threatening US citizens, our partners and innocent civilians," Riordan said in a statement.</p>.<p>She did not specify the number of deaths from the strike.</p>.<p>But the Britain-based Observatory said the operation, which targeted a dinner meeting of jihadists in the village of Jakara in the Salqin area, killed at least 17 jihadists including 11 leaders.</p>.<p>The village lies in Syria's last major rebel bastion of Idlib, which is dominated by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, led by a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, and its rebel allies.</p>.<p>But other jihadist groups, including the rival Al-Qaeda-linked Hurras al-Deen faction, are also present in the area.</p>.<p>Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said that five non-Syrian jihadists were among those killed, but their nationalities were not immediately known.</p>.<p>"They had been invited to dinner in a tent on a farm in Jakara," he said.</p>.<p>"It was a meeting of leaders opposed to HTS and who reject the Russia-Turkish deals" that led to a fragile truce in Idlib, he said. "Some were close to Hurras al-Deen."</p>.<p>A March agreement between rebel backer Ankara and government ally Moscow halted a deadly offensive by government forces against the region of some three million people.</p>.<p>A US-led coalition is present in the east of the country, where its airstrikes have backed Kurdish-led forces battling remnants of the Islamic State group.</p>.<p>Thursday's strike came after it emerged that the 18-year-old who killed a school teacher in France last week for showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in class had been in contact with a Russian-speaking jihadist in Syria.</p>.<p>A source close to the case said the identity of the Russian-speaking jihadist was not yet known, but French newspaper Le Parisien claimed the person's IP address was traced to Idlib.</p>.<p>After a string of military victories backed by key ally Russia, the Syrian government has regained control of around 70 percent of the country, the Observatory says.</p>.<p>The war, which broke out after the bloody suppression of anti-government protests in 2011, has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced millions from their homes.</p>