Muhammed Yusuf Ziya Talay, a Turkish al-Qaeda operative enlisted by Turkey’s intelligence agency (Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MIT) for clandestine operations in Syria, was eliminated in a precision US strike on February 23 executed by the US Central Command (CENTCOM).
NORDIC MONITOR -- Talay, known by his nom de guerre Jafar al-Turki within the ranks of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Hurras al-Din (HaD), was among numerous senior al-Qaeda figures deployed by MIT to orchestrate covert missions aimed at toppling the Bashar al-Assad regime. His demise marks a substantial setback to the extensive network of proxy groups cultivated by MIT and overseen — either directly or indirectly — by the Islamist administration of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
His death follows the February 21 US strike that neutralized Wasim Tahsin Bayraqdar, a senior facilitator for Hurras al-Din in northwest Syria.
CENTCOM released footage of the precision drone strike, describing it as part of sustained efforts “to disrupt and degrade attempts by terrorists to plan, organize, and execute attacks against civilians and military personnel from the US, our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond.”