Airstrike targets al-Qaida affiliates HQ

At least 25 people were killed and tens of others wounded on Tuesday, when airstrikes targeted a headquarter of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham rebels, formerly known as al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, in northern Syria near the Turkish borders, a monitor group reported.

The warplanes, believed to be with the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition, targeted a headquarter of the group in the town of Sarmada in the northern countryside of Idlib province, while the group's commanders were holding a meeting, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Commanders were among those killed, as the death toll will likely rise due to the high number of critically wounded people, according to the UK-based watchdog group.

The Observatory, which says it relies on a network activists on ground, stopped short of identifying whether civilians were among those killed.

The airstrike wasn't the first this month, as similar offensive killed eight commanders of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham near Sarmada on Sunday.

Last July, the leaders of al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Nusra Front said the rebel group had severed ties with the international terrorist organization in a bid to stop Russian and the U.S. airstrikes on opposition-held areas of the country.

Still, the group remained designated as a terrorist group by the international community and was excluded from a currently-underway nationwide ceasefire in Syria.

source: Xinhua