RIYADH: A senior official of an Al-Qaeda affiliate was killed during an airstrike by American forces in northwest Syria, the US Central Command, or Centcom said on Sunday. In a statement posted on the X platform, CENTCOM said the "precision airstrike" targeted and killed "a senior finance and logistics official in the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din (HaD), an Al-Qaeda affiliate." It said the operation "is part of CENTCOM"s ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks" against civilians and military personnel from the US and its allies. "We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists in order to defend our homeland, and US, allied, and partner personnel in the region,” the statement quoted Centcom chief Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla as saying. Last January 30 in Syria, a Hurras al-Din leader was also reported killed in a US military airstrike that targetted his vehicle on a highway near the village of Batabo in northwest Syria. The US military has around 900 troops in Syria as part of the international coalition against the Daesh group. The coalition was established in 2014 to help combat the armed group, which had taken over vast swaths of Iraq and Syria. (With AFP)