Pentagon says airstrikes in Syria killed 11 al-Qaeda operatives - including 'a senior leader who once had ties to Osama bin Laden and current chief Ayman al-Zawahiri'

  • Pentagon says airstrike on February 3 killed 10 al-Qaeda operatives in a building used as a meeting site
  • The next day, another strike is said to have killed Abu Hani al-Masri
  • Al-Masri was identified as an al-Qaeda operative who oversaw creation and operation of training camps in Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s 
  • Both airstrikes were near the northwestern Syrian town of Idlib 

By Associated Press and Ariel Zilber For Dailymail.com

Published: 17:40 EST, 8 February 2017 | Updated: 02:25 EST, 9 February 2017

The Pentagon says two US airstrikes in Syria killed 11 al-Qaeda operatives, including one with ties to Osama bin Laden and other senior al-Qaeda leaders.

A spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said a single airstrike on February 3 killed 10 operatives in a building used as an al-Qaeda meeting site.

A second strike the next day killed Abu Hani al-Masri, identified by the Pentagon as an al-Qaida operative who oversaw the creation and operation of al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s. 

Davis said al-Masri had ties to bin Laden and to Ayman al-Zawahiri, who became the top leader of al-Qaeda when bin Laden was killed by US forces in 2011.

Osama bin Laden
Ayman al-Zawahiri

The Pentagon said Abu Hani al-Masri had ties to Obama bin Laden (left) and to Ayman al-Zawahiri (right), who became the top leader of al-Qaeda when bin Laden was killed by US forces in 2011

Both US airstrikes were near Idlib in northwestern Syria.

In a statement, the Pentagon said al-Masri was 'a legacy al-Qaeda terrorist with ties to the group's senior leaders, including Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden.'

'Al-Masri oversaw the creation and operation of many al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in the 1980s and '90s, where he recruited, indoctrinated, trained and equipped thousands of terrorists who subsequently spread throughout the region and the world,' the Pentagon said.

'He was also one of the founders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the first Sunni group to use suicide bombers in their terror attacks.'

'EIJ is responsible for multiple attacks against US and allied facilities and personnel, including a 1998 attempt to blow up the American embassy in Albania,' the Pentagon said.

'These strikes disrupt al-Qaeda's ability to plot and direct external attacks targeting the US and our interests worldwide.'

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