U.S. Central Command on Thursday identified Salim Abu-Ahmad as the senior al-Qaida leader killed in an airstrike near Idlib, Syria on Sept. 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSalim Abu-Ahmad was responsible for planning, funding, and approving trans-regional al-Qaeda attacks,\u201d Army Maj. John Rigsbee, a CENTCOM spokesman told Military Times. \u201cThere are no indications of civilian casualties as a result of the strike. This strike continues U.S. operations to degrade international terrorist networks and target terrorist leaders who seek to attack the U.S. homeland and its interests and allies abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Sept. 20, rescue workers and a war monitor described the attack as a drone strike that hit a vehicle traveling on a rural road in rebel-controlled northwestern Syria, killing at least one person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CENTCOM officials did not immediately respond to questions about what kind of aviation asset took part in the strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Civil Defense team, known as White Helmets, said the unidentified body was lifted from the car along the Idlib-Binnish road east of Idlib province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The totally charred vehicle, split in the middle, lay on the side of the rural road in an orchard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, said the U.S.-led coalition was believed to be behind the strike on the vehicle, which carried a militant from one of the radical groups operating in the province. The Observatory didn\u2019t identify the group but said it was linked to al-Qaida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. has carried out attacks in Idlib before, targeting al-Qaida militants and the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who was hiding in the province after fleeing from eastern Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Large parts of Idlib and neighboring Aleppo provinces remain in the hands of Syrian armed opposition, dominated by radical groups including the once al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham,. There are also over 4 million civilians living in the area, most of them displaced from previous bouts of violence in Syria\u2019s 10-year conflict. The Syrian government has vowed to restore control of all of territories outside of its control, but a cease-fire negotiated last year in Idlib has tenaciously held.<\/p>\n\n\n\t