The United States said Monday it had carried out a strike against al-Qaeda-linked militants in northwestern Syria, its first such operation there in two years.
"US forces conducted a strike against al-Qaeda in Syria (AQ-S) leadership at a training facility," US Central Command said in a statement.
"This operation targeted AQ-S operatives responsible for plotting external attacks threatening US citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians," it added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the raid in Aleppo province killed six commanders and other militants from the Hurras al-Deen group.
The leaders included two Tunisians, two Algerians, an Egyptian and a Syrian, the Britain-based monitor said.
Hurras al-Deen was established in February 2018 and has some 1,800 fighters, including non-Syrians, according to the Observatory.
"Northwest Syria remains a safe haven where AQ-S leaders actively coordinate terrorist activities, to include planning attacks throughout the region and in the West," US Central Command said.
Syria analyst Sam Heller said the United States had effectively been excluded from the airspace over Idlib province since President Donald Trump came to power.
Regime ally Russia "has prevented the US from launching the sort of targeted airstrikes it had carried out through the start of 2017," he told Agence France Presse.
"It's not clear if this latest air strike signals that a new understanding has been reached, or if the US felt it especially urgent to bomb these militants in particular," Heller said.
The strikes come after both Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin attended the G20 economic summit in Japan last week.
But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told AFP there was "no link" between the strike and Trump's meeting with Putin at the summit.
