U.S. special forces carried out what the Pentagon said was a large-scale counterterrorism raid in northwestern Syria early Thursday. First responders at the scene reported 13 people had been killed, including six children and four women. The operation, which residents say lasted over two hours, jolted the sleepy village of Atmeh near the Turkish border — an area dotted with camps for internally displaced people from Syria’s civil war. The target of the raid was unclear. “The mission was successful,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a brief statement. “There were no U.S. casualties. More information will be provided as it becomes available.” A journalist on assignment for The Associated Press and several residents said they saw body parts scattered near the site of the raid, a house in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province. Most residents spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, and said the raid involved helicopters, explosions and machine-gun fire. Also read: Islamic State strikes from shadows in vulnerable Syria, Iraq It was the largest raid in the province since the 2019 Trump-era U.S. assault that killed the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Idlib is broadly controlled by Turkey-backed fighters, but is also an Al-Qaida stronghold and home to several of its top operatives. Other militants have also found refuge in the region. The top floor of the two-story house, surrounded by olive trees, was almost totally destroyed, with the ceiling and walls knocked out. Blood could be seen on the walls and floor of the remaining structure, which contained a wrecked bedroom with a child’s wooden crib on the floor. On one damaged wall, a blue plastic swing for children was still hanging. The kitchen was blackened with fire damage. The opposition-run Syrian Civil Defense, first responders also known as the White Helmets, said 13 people were killed in shelling and clashes that ensued after U.S. the commando raid. They included six children and four women, it said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, also said the strike killed 13 people, including four children and two women. Ahmad Rahhal, a citizen journalist who visited the site, reported seeing 12 bodies. The Pentagon provided no details on who was the target of the raid, or if any combatants or civilians on the ground were killed or injured. Residents and activists described witnessing a large ground assault, with U.S. forces using loudspeakers urging women and children to leave the area. Omar Saleh, a nearby resident, said the doors and windows of his house started to rattle to the sound of low-flying aircraft at 1:10 a.m. local time. He then heard a man, speaking Arabic with an Iraqi or Saudi accent through a loudspeaker, urging women to surrender or leave the area. “This went on for 45 minutes. There was no response. Then the machine gun fire erupted,” Saleh said. He said the firing continued for two hours, as aircraft circled the area. Others reported hearing at least one major explosion during the operation. A U.S. official said that one of the helicopters in the raid suffered a mechanical problem and had to be blown up on the ground. The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the military operation. The Observatory said troops for the U.S.-led coalition using helicopters landed in the area and attacked a house. It said the force clashed with fighters on the ground. Taher al-Omar, an Idlib-based activist, also said he witnessed clashes between fighters and the U.S. force. Also read: US airstrikes target Iran-backed militias in Syria, Iraq The military operation got attention on social media, with tweets from the region describing helicopters firing around the building near Atmeh. Flight-tracking data also suggested that multiple drones were circling the city of Sarmada and the village of Salwah, just north of the raid’s location. The U.S. has in the past used drones to kill top al-Qaida operatives in Idlib, which at one point was home to the group’s biggest concentration of leaders since the days of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. The fact that special forces landed on the ground suggest the target was believed to be of high value. A similar attack in Pakistan, in 2011, killed bin Laden. Thursday’s clandestine operation came as the Islamic State group was reasserting itself in Syria and Iraq, carrying out some of its biggest attacks since it was defeated in 2019. In recent weeks and months, the group has launched a series of operations in the region, including a 10-day assault late last month to seize a prison in northeastern Syria. A U.S.-backed Kurdish-led force said more than 120 of their fighters and prison workers died in the effort to thwart the IS plot, whose goal appeared to free senior IS operatives from the prison. The prison houses at least 3,000 Islamic State group detainees. The attempted prison break was the biggest military operation by the extremist group since IS was defeated and members scattered to havens in 2019. The U.S.-led coalition carried out airstrikes and deployed American personnel in Bradley Fighting Vehicles to the prison area to help the Kurdish forces. At a news conference Monday, an SDF senior official Nowruz Ahmad said the prison assault was part of a broader plot that IS had been preparing for a long time, including attacks on other neighborhoods in Hassakeh, Shaddada and areas of Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria and on the al-Hol camp in the south, which houses thousands of families of IS members. The U.S.-led coalition has targeted high-profile militants on several occasions in recent years, aiming to disrupt what U.S. officials say is a secretive cell known as the Khorasan group that is planning external attacks. A U.S. airstrike killed al-Qaida’s second in command, former bin Laden aide Abu al-Kheir al-Masri, in Syria in 2017.

Former foreign secretary Shahidul Haque has said although India, Iran and Pakistan are in the race for influence in Afghanistan, China has the most important role to play to fill the void left by the withdrawal of NATO and US forces. He also said the National Afghan government has shown its interest to become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and it will be interesting to see how it turns out as both India and Pakistan are SCO members. Read:China reports 125 more Covid cases "To bring peace and security in Afghanistan, the governance of Afghanistan should be done by the people of this country without any interference of outsiders," said Haque, now a professorial fellow of SIPG at NSU, while addressing a webinar. The webinar titled "Current Afghan Situation and Bangladesh" was organized by the South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) of North South University (NSU) to understand the current situation from academic and geopolitical lenses as the emerging unrest and power shifting in Afghanistan will have consequences in the entire South Asia region.  Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen spoke at the webinar as the chief guest. "We are holding several meetings with Taliban to understand which one of the existing Islamic models they want to implement but they are adamant to implement their model to run Afghanistan and that’s a major issue of the present conflict," said Dr M Mustafa Mastoor, special representative and senior advisor, High Council for National Reconciliation of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Joining live from Kabul, he also said the recent diplomatic efforts of Bangladesh on Afghanistan issues are not as strong as they were before and hopes it will improve in the future.  Masud Momen said Bangladesh welcomes the Afghan people's own right to build a democratic, pluralistic, and inclusive society through recent peace talks. Bangladesh insists on becoming a development partner and assists Afghanistan in all bilateral cooperation for mutual benefits, he said. "And as soon as the situation becomes conducive, Bangladesh will reopen the embassy in Kabul," said the foreign secretary.  Keynote speaker of the webinar Brig Gen M Sakhawat Hussain (retd), senior fellow of SIPG at NSU, discussed the geopolitics and consequences of the current Afghan Crisis in the South Asian region and Bangladesh. Read: China punishes 30 officials for pandemic failing He stated that a continuation of the Afghan internal conflicts will have a spillover effect in the region as seen in the past which may jeopardize the external and internal security of this region. He also opined that Bangladesh, having historical ties with Afghanistan should consider improving ties with Central Asia including Afghanistan.  Dr Lailufar Yasmin, professor of International Relations at the University of Dhaka, pointed towards placing importance on both hard and soft power objectives. "We need to analyze the long-term impacts of the fact that the Taliban is trying to win the hearts of the mass public by lowering the oil price and the amount of Mahr (money paid by the groom at the time of Islamic marriage)," she said. Faruque Ahmed, former executive director of Brac International who worked in the humanitarian and development sector in Afghanistan, stated that security is a big challenge there along with weak governance and the high cost of doing business. He also opined that security should be ensured first for peacebuilding and development in Afghanistan.  Professor Atiqul Islam, vice-chancellor of North South University chaired the session. In his concluding remarks, he said that although the re-emergence of the Taliban may represent an initial strategic gain for Pakistan, the country is also at high risk of much chaos, civil war, and the influx of refugees from Afghanistan if another civil war starts there. Read:China pledges 2 billion vaccines globally through year’s end He also said India has good reasons to be nervous as China will be keeping a sharp eye on Afghanistan as well. "China has already met with the Taliban leaders as they don't want their interference in Xinxiang and BRI projects." The event ended with the playing of an Afghan folk song as a tribute to the fellow Afghans wishing peace and prosperity in their lives. Diplomats, academics from various universities including NSU and Dhaka University, journalists, and students from the USA, Norway, New Zealand, Bangkok, Italy, UK, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh were present among the participants.

Iraqi Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr on Friday called for a scheduled withdrawal of US troops from Iraq through peaceful means.