US offers $5 million reward for Syria Al-Qaeda operatives

The US State Department on Thursday offered $5 million rewards for three senior Al-Qaeda militants based in Syria.

The State Department said it would pay $5 million for information leading to the identification or location of three leading Al-Qaeda operatives from the Hurras al-Din faction in Idlib.

Hurras al-Din is a hardline Syria-based Islamist militant group, which is said to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda and include a large number of foreign jihadi fighters.

The three militants named by the US State Department were Jordanian Sami al-Uraydi, Egyptian Abu 'Abd al-Karim al-Masri, Syrian Faruq al-Suri.

Sami al-Uraydi is a senior Hurras al-Dina religious figure and member of the group's shura council. He is wanted for his involvement in "terrorist plots against the United States and Israel".

Faruq al-Suri was named by the State Department as the leader Hurras al-Din. 

— Rewards for Justice (@Rewards4Justice) September 12, 2019" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post REWARD!! Up to $5 million. Al-Qa'ida affiliated- Hurras al-Din (HAD) key leaders Faruq al-Suri, Abu ‘Abd al-Karim al-Masri and Sami al-Uraydi. If you have information on these HAD terrorists, submit a tip. Get paid. Relocation possible. 100% confidential. https://t.co/LtBVhsrwTc pic.twitter.com/GyNPfmRIYi — Rewards for Justice (@Rewards4Justice) September 12, 2019

"Al-Suri is a veteran member of al-Qa’ida (AQ), having been active in the terrorist organization for decades," the State Department said in a statement on their website. He fought with Al-Qaeda linked groups in Afghanistan and Iraq and was detained in Lebanon from 2009 to 2013. He became the military commander of al-Nusra Front but left the group in 2016.

Al-Masri was also named as a member of Hurras al-Din's shura council.

Hurras al-Din have been targeted in a number of US airstrikes in recent months, including one in late August which killed 40 people.

Hurras al-Deen was established in February 2018 and has some 1,800 fighters, including non-Syrians, according to the Observatory.

Mohanad Hage Ali, director of communications and a fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center told The New Arab that the group have tried to distance themselves from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib, since the latter's split with Al-Qaeda.

"The premise of its foundation is to resume links with Al-Qaeda Central and the fact that non-Syrian jihadists are the core base of its leadership means its logical to assume that it was plotting an attack and using Syria for this," he said.