WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2017 — A precision airstrike conducted yesterday by manned and unmanned U.S. aircraft against a training camp in Syria’s Idlib province killed more than 100 al-Qaida fighters, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said today.

In a statement, Davis said the Shaykh Sulayman training camp had been operational since at least 2013.

“The removal of this training camp disrupts training operations and discourages hardline Islamist and Syrian opposition groups from joining or cooperating with al-Qaida on the battlefield,” he said.

‎U.S. strikes have killed more than 150 al-Qaida terrorists since Jan. 1, Davis said, including:

-- Mohammad Habib Boussadoun al-Tunisi, an external operations leader, killed Jan. 17;

-- Abd al-Jalil al-Muslimi, a facilitator associated with a network plotting terror attacks in the west, killed Jan. 12; and

-- Abu Hasan al-Taftanaz, an al-Qaida senior leader, killed Jan. 6.

“These strikes, conducted in quick succession, degrade al-Qaida's capabilities, weaken their resolve, and cause confusion in their ranks,” Davis said. “We will continue to exert unrelenting pressure to defeat violent extremist groups across the globe.”