Makeshift shelters in al-Qah, in the province of Idlib, on May 23, 2025. (Credit: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP)
Two people were killed on Tuesday in two drone strikes of unknown origin in the Idlib region in northwestern Syria, a stronghold of former Islamist rebels now in power, according to rescuers.
On X, the White Helmets, a Syrian rescue organization, said that a person on a motorcycle "was killed in a drone attack." Another person was killed in another drone attack targeting "a car with four people on board ... on the road leading to a displaced persons camp in Atmeh, in the northern Idlib region."
No party has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the United States, whose troops are deployed in Syria as part of an international coalition established to fight the jihadists of the Islamic State group (ISIS), regularly conducts strikes in this region. In January and February, Washington announced that it had killed several leaders of the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, Hurras al-Din, which had just announced its dissolution. Hurras al-Din, which includes foreign jihadists, was based in mountainous areas in northwestern Syria.
The U.S. Central Command for the Middle East (Centcom) did not immediately respond to AFP's requests for comment.
A rebel coalition led by the Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that dominated the Idlib region, took power in Damascus after ousting Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8. The new Syrian authorities have announced their intention to dissolve all armed formations active in the country and have pledged to fight against ISIS. U.S. President Donald Trump, who recently met with interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia, urged him to "help the U.S. prevent a resurgence of ISIS."