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.

Kabul, Afghanistan – The news of the killing of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri slowly made its way through the Afghan capital. For many Afghans, it came as a complete surprise. The announcement by the United States of a "precision" drone attack that killed the elusive 71-year-old al-Qaeda leader came in Kabul in the early hours of Tuesday. As the day advanced, more details started to trickle in. However, in a sign of the growing fears over the freedom of speech under a Taliban government, many city residents seemed hesitant to talk about the killing of al-Zawahiri, who had a reward of $25m on his head for the 9/11 attacks.

The House minority leader blasted Democratic leadership, saying the current policy is'creating another Syria' in the Middle East. The United States military conducted a drone strike in Syria targeting a senior al-Qaeda leader and planner, a CENTCOM spokesperson says. "U.S. forces conducted a kinetic strike near Idlib, Syria, December 3, targeting a senior al-Qaeda leader and planner," CENTCOM spokesperson Captain Bill Urban told Fox News Digital in a statement. "The strike was conducted using a precision strike method from MQ-9 aircraft." Urban added that an "initial review of this strike indicates the potential for possible civilian casualties."

The US military has killed senior al Qaeda leader Abdul Hamid al-Matar in a drone strike in Syria, a US Central Command spokesman said. "The removal of this al Qaeda senior leader will disrupt the terrorist organisation's ability to further plot and carry out global attacks threatening US citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians," US Army Major John Rigsbee said in a written statement late on Friday. The strike comes two days after a US outpost in southern Syria was attacked. Rigsbee did not say if the US drone strike was carried out in retaliation of the attack.

The US has confirmed the death of a senior al-Qaeda leader targeted by a US drone strike in north eastern Afghanistan last month. Farouq al-Qahtani, the group's leader in the area, was killed two weeks ago in what the Pentagon described as a precision strike. Saudi-born al-Qahtani was placed on a US list of most wanted terrorists in February. He was said to be one of al-Qaeda's senior plotters against the US. Saudi-born al-Qahtani, a Qatari national, was also accused of involvement in plots targeting Europe.