At least one person was killed when a drone, believed to belong to the US-led International Coalition, targeted a car on the road to Aleppo International Airport in northern Syria on Thursday, September 4.

Enab Baladi’s correspondent reported that the drone fired two missiles at the car, which was carrying a single passenger, killing him instantly. No information has yet emerged regarding the identity of the targeted individual or whether there were additional casualties at the time of publication.

The correspondent added that Syrian Civil Defense teams and ambulances rushed to the scene to extinguish the fire caused by the explosion and reopen the road.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that an unidentified drone targeted a civilian car on the road to Aleppo International Airport, without providing further details.

Aleppo’s media office told Enab Baladi in response to inquiries that “no information is available” about the strike.

The US-led International Coalition has repeatedly targeted figures affiliated with groups Washington designates as terrorist organizations, most notably the Islamic State (ISIS) and Hurras al-Din (now dissolved), an al-Qaeda affiliate. As of the time of publication, the coalition had not claimed responsibility for the strike.

Airdrop in Idlib

On August 20, the International Coalition carried out a joint airborne raid with Syrian government forces in the Atmeh area (northern Idlib countryside, northwestern Syria), killing an Iraqi national and ISIS commander.

Five other individuals were arrested during the operation and handed over to the Internal Security Forces in Atmeh.

According to Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Idlib, the raid began at 2:30 a.m. and lasted about two hours.

The operation resulted in the killing of Salah Nouman, known as Abu Hafs al-Qurashi, an ISIS commander responsible for overseeing cells linked to the group’s Iraq branch in Syria.

Nouman, an Iraqi national, rose to prominence in ISIS media in August 2023, when the group announced his appointment as its new leader after the killing of its fourth chief, Abu al-Hussein al-Qurashi, who had taken command in November 2022.

Abu Hafs played a central role in ISIS’s organizational structure in Syria, particularly in recruiting foreign fighters and facilitating their entry across the border, thereby strengthening the group’s manpower and military capabilities. He also coordinated between ISIS field cells, though Enab Baladi was unable to confirm which specific operations he led in Syria.

After the al-Bab Operation

The Atmeh raid was the second joint operation between the International Coalition and the Syrian government. The first took place on July 25 in the city of al-Bab (eastern Aleppo countryside), targeting ISIS elements.

At the time, US Central Command announced via X (formerly Twitter) that it had carried out an airstrike in al-Bab that killed senior ISIS leader Diaa Zuba Mislah al-Hardani, along with his two sons, Abdullah and Abdulrahman.