U.S. Strikes Killed Just Two in Al Qaeda

Though the U.S. fired 46 cruise missiles at eight locations in Syria last month targeting members of an Al Qaeda cell, only one or two key members of the group were killed, according to U.S. intelligence officials. News reports focused on the Khorasan Group’s activities had caused many militants to scatter before the strikes, minimizing the missiles’ effect. (An earlier assault was planned in June but never happened.) Rep. Adam Schiff, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, emphasized that the strikes are not the end of threats from the group. “The strikes were certainly effective in setting back the Khorasan Group, but no one thinks they were a permanent solution or a death blow to the threats that come from this cell,” Schiff said. Making matters worse, an activist in the northern province of Idlib has reported that one of the U.S. missiles went rogue and killed a dozen civilians in the village of Kfar Derian. The U.S. military has not confirmed the civilian deaths.