Senior Al Qaeda Leader Killed in Drone Strike
In 2005, the United States Treasury Department described Mr. Masri as a Qaeda associate and said
that he "was responsible for coordinating Al Qaeda’s work with other terrorist organizations." The drone strike against Mr. Masri came about a month after an Air Force B-52 bomber carried out a punishing airstrike against a training camp of Al Qaeda in Syria, which the Pentagon said killed about 100 militants.
Since then, Mr. Masri had operated in Syria as Al Qaeda’s deputy leader, providing orders
and advice to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the Qaeda affiliate in Syria formerly known as the Nusra Front, and its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, Mr. Lister said.
Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and an expert on the war in Syria, said in an email
that the death of Mr. Masri was the most significant blow to Al Qaeda’s global network since the killing of Nasir al-Wuhayshi, Al Qaeda’s No.
By MICHAEL R. GORDON and ERIC SCHMITTMARCH 1, 2017
WASHINGTON — A senior official of Al Qaeda was killed on Sunday in Syria by a United States drone strike, an American official said on Wednesday.
A veteran of jihadist conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Egypt
and Pakistan, he was a longtime member of Al Qaeda’s highly secretive Shura Council, and he was the terrorist group’s key intermediary with its affiliates and other jihadist groups across the world, Mr. Lister said.
in the world," Mr. Lister said. that jihadi royalty, meaning his death will almost
certainly necessitate some form of response, whether from Syria or elsewhere
Photographs of the vehicle Mr. Masri was said to be traveling in when attacked reveal unusual details for such a strike: The vehicle sustained no major explosive damage,
but a projectile clearly struck it directly through the car roof.
