US special forces have carried out, what the Pentagon said, a large-scale counterterrorism raid in northwestern Syria.

The Syrian Civil Defense, a volunteer rescue group operating in rebel-held parts of Syria that is also known as White Helmets, said 13 people were killed in shelling and clashes that ensued after the US special forces raid. They included six children and four women, it added.

The operation, which residents say lasted for more than two hours, jolted the sleepy town of Atmeh in Idlib province near the Turkish border — an area dotted with camps for internally displaced people from Syria’s war.

The target of the raid was not immediately clear.

It was the largest raid in the province since a 2019 assault that killed ISIL (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.