U.S.-led airstrikes kill 7 al-Qaida affiliates in Syria

At least seven militants of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front were killed during airstrikes by the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition in northwestern Syria, a monitor group reported on Thursday.

The international coalition carried out at least five airstrikes overnight, some of which targeted a vehicle of one of the Nusra commanders on the road between the towns of Sarmada and Kafr-Daryan in the countryside of the northwestern province of Idlib, much of which have fell to the Nusra Front over the past few months.

Activists posted online video footage that purported to show the burnt vehicle of the Nusra commander, with his body charred inside.

Several other Nusra positions were hit during the strikes in the northwestern countryside of Idlib as well, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Nusra snatched a Christian pastor in northern Idlib, the report said, adding the clergyman's whereabouts remain unknown.

The U.S. coalition started their strikes against the Islamic State (IS) militants and other ultra-radical groups in Syria late last September.

The Nusra Front and likeminded groups launched a wide-scale offensive against Idlib last March, stripping government forces of much of that key province near Turkey.

They also aimed to establish their own version of an Islamic Caliphate, akin to what their rival extremist group, the IS militants, did when it captured the entire city of al-Raqa in northern Syria and declared it their de facto capital. Endit