US acknowledges Syria air strike killed farmer rather than al-Qaeda leader

The United States Department of Defense has acknowledged that a drone strike in Syria, initially said to have successfully targeted an al-Qaeda leader, actually killed a farmer. The Pentagon stated on Thursday that the drone strike on May 3, 2023, killed a 56-year-old shepherd named Lutfi Hasan Masto, whom they initially misidentified as a senior member of al-Qaeda. US Central Command, which oversees military activities in the Middle East, wrote that it "acknowledges and regrets the civilian harm that resulted from the airstrike". A year ago a US strike in Syria killed a'senior Al-Qaeda leader' The US military has now officially accepted it was a mistake, blaming'confirmation bias'https://t.co/WG9Mf0Rdq2 The killing of Masto is the latest incident to raise questions about the impact of US drone warfare on civilians, who often pay the price for botched strikes.