![Image of smoke rising from the airstrikes that hit Syria [Anadolu]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/20161004_aftermath-ofdestruction-in-aleppo-after-russian-airstrikes-target-residential-neighbourhood-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
The United States’ Central Command (CENTCOM) has confirmed that a US-led Coalition airstrikes has killed a senior commander in the Daesh militant group at the Tabqa Dam in Syria, not far from Daesh’s Syrian capital of Raqqa.
In a press release today, CENTCOM said “Abu Jandal al-Kuwaiti, an ISIL gang leader in Raqqa was struck and killed by a coalition airstrike near Tabqa Dam,” using another acronym for Daesh. CENTCOM confirmed that the airstrike took place on Monday.
According to CENTCOM, not only was Abu Jandal instrumental in Daesh’s recent success at stripping the Assad regime of its control over Palmyra but he was also “involved in the use of suicide vehicles, IEDs and chemical weapons against the SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces].”
The so-called SDF is an umbrella organisation predominantly controlled by militant leftist Kurdish factions such as the YPG and PYD who have ties and connections to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, though the latter provides direct support to the SDF in its fight against Daesh.
Although CENTCOM only confirmed Abu Jandal’s killing today, earlier this week the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based war monitor, reported that he had been targeted by the Coalition.
Daesh supporters on various social media networks also seemed to confirm the news.
Abu Jandal was part of the militant group’s War Council, and was therefore an influential field commander. After his successes at Palmyra, he was redeployed to fend off the SDF’s advance towards Raqqa at the Tabqa Dam, where he was killed in a targeted airstrike.
Regarding the impact his death would have on Daesh, CENTCOM said: “Because of his associations with ISIL terror attack planners and War Council members, his death will degrade ISIL’s ability to defend Raqqa and launch external operations against the West.”
Daesh has faced a steady stream of losses since it early 2015 when it began losing territory in both Syria and neighbouring Iraq. The US-led Coalition has been targeting Daesh’s leadership with airstrikes in an attempt to degrade its ability to wage war, but this has so far only made slow progress.