U.S. targets al-Qaeda fighters in Syria

For the first time in two years, U.S. warplanes have killed al-Qaeda fighters in northwestern Syria. U.S. Central Command said Monday that it hit an al-Qaeda training facility near Aleppo. The airstrike killed eight fighters associated with al-Qaeda, including six commanders, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitoring group.

“Northwest Syria remains a safe haven where [al-Qaeda] leaders actively coordinate terrorist activities, to include planning attacks throughout the region and in the West,” the U.S. military said in a statement.