U.S. drone attack on al-Qaida group impresses Syrian moderates

Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, has disclosed that it suffered heavy casualties when the U.S. launched drone attacks last month to defend a moderate opposition group called “Division 30.”

“The U.S. strikes caused some of our dear brothers to be granted their martyrdom and others got wounded,” wrote a Dutch fighter named Abu Mohammad al-Hollandi in a Twitter posting on July 31, the day of the battle. “We from Nusra decided to make a tactical retreat &thus minimize the possible casualties that could fall because of these strikes.”

Jabhat al-Nusra actually lost between 30 and 40 fighters to the U.S. bombing strikes that day, according to one official involved in the operation to train and equip Division 30. He said the Nusra group had suffered a 5-to-1 kill ratio in its pre-dawn assault on Division 30. This lopsided casualty rate encouraged potential recruits to the “New Syrian Army,” as the moderate force is known, that the U.S. is serious about defending its allies, the official said.

This new information paints a less bleak view than what I described in an Aug. 20 column about a “chain of errors” in the Division 30 saga. While U.S. officials concede there were planning and intelligence mistakes, they say the showdown may have ended as a net plus for Syrian moderate forces. By using drones so aggressively, the U.S. showed it was prepared to fight back after reversals.

Postings by Jabhat al-Nusra members help illuminate what happened in the days after 54 U.S.-trained Division 30 fighters were sent into the Syrian border region of Azaz, north of Aleppo, around July 12. Because the opposition group’s target was the Islamic State, U.S. commanders hadn’t expected that the Nusra Front would attack. But it did — first in a July 29 kidnapping of seven fighters, then in the July 31 assault.

A Jabhat al-Nusra statement explained the kidnapping as a kind of reconnaissance. “It was incumbent on the Nusra Front to investigate and take caution and be wary of such projects,” said the statement, which was published by the SITE Intelligence Group. “It [Nusra] arrested a number of soldiers in the Division, and the reality of their project was proven to the Front; that they are agents to bring about the projects and interests of America in the region.”

The Dutch fighter al-Hollandi explained separately: “After interrogation it became clear for Nusra what this filthy US backed group was up to. And it became clear that the US command center had direct contact with the commanders of ‘Division 30,’ thus making it for the US easy to immediately react with their drones and fighter jets.”

The attack on Division 30 was intended as “a hit and run attack [to] teach them a lesson that we won’t tolerate any group that fights for a foreign country and with a western agenda,” said al-Hollandi.

The battlefield in northern Syria is confusing because Jabhat al-Nusra, until recently, has been a leader in fighting the Islamic State. Yet the group announced in an Aug. 9 communique that it was withdrawing its fighters from the battle zone against the Islamic State north of Aleppo (termed by U.S. commanders the “Mar’a Line”) because it didn’t want to collaborate there with the U.S. and Turkey. But a coalition official said moderate fighters had filled in the gap left by the departing Jabhat al-Nusra, and that heavy air attacks by the U.S. and its allies had pounded the Islamic State along the Mar’a Line in recent days.

For Jabhat al-Nusra, this appears to have been a tactical retreat. Explained the Aug. 9 communique: “Faced with the current scene, we could only withdraw and leave the points of our vigil with the renegades in the northern Aleppo countryside to be taken over by any fighting faction in those areas.”

The aggressive drone attacks may explain why, despite initial reversals, a Division 30 commander named Abu Iskandar told Al Aan TV reporter Jenan Moussa on Aug 20 that, in her words, “he doesn’t bear any grudge against the U.S.” Evidently, American firepower eases the pain of U.S. intelligence and planning mistakes.

David Ignatius’ email address is davidignatius@washpost.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

RGB version
Editorial cartoons for Monday, March 18

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Carson gets a chance to sound the horn in an Everett Fire Department engine with the help of captain Jason Brock during a surprise Make-A-Wish sendoff Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at Thornton A. Sullivan Park in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Editorial: Everett voters will set course for city finances

This fall and in coming years, they will be asked how to fund and support the services they use.

Devotees of TikTok, Mona Swain, center, and her sister, Rachel Swain, right, both of Atlanta, monitor voting at the Capitol in Washington, as the House passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app if its China-based owner doesn't sell, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Lawmakers contend the app's owner, ByteDance, is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok's consumers in the U.S. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Editorial: Forced sale of TikTok ignores network of problems

The removal of a Chinese company would still leave concerns for data privacy and the content on apps.

Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, watches the State of the State speech by Gov. Jay Inslee on the second day of the legislative session at the Washington state Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Editorial: Legislature has its own production of ‘The Holdovers’

What state lawmakers left behind in good ideas that should get more attention and passage next year.

Comment: Measles outbreaks show importance of MMR vaccinations

The highly contagious disease requires a 95 percent vaccination rate to limit the spread of outbreaks.

Harrop: Should ‘affordable’ come at cost of quality of living?

As states push their cities to ignore zoning rules, the YIMBYs are covering for developers.

Saunders: Classified document cases show degrees of guilt

President Biden’s age might protect him, but the special prosecutor didn’t exonerate him either.

Comment: Clearing the internet of misinformation, deep fakes

With social networks’ spotty moderation record, users need to identify and call out problems they see.

Eco-Nomics: Price of gas, fossil fuels higher than you think

Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels force unseen costs in climate disasters, illness and more.

Vote against I-2117 to keep best tool to protect climate

We voters will be offered the opportunity to repeal Washington state’s Climate… Continue reading

Lack of maternal health care raises risks of deadly sepsis

In today’s contentious climate, we often hear political debates about maternal health… Continue reading

Trump’s stance on abortion isn’t moderate; it’s dangerous

Voters deserve to know the facts and the truth about what will… Continue reading

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.