Biden administration officials are reportedly walking back claims that they killed a major figure in the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda. The move comes after the slain man's family and others who knew him claimed that he had no ties to terrorism and was tending to his sheep when he was hit by a Hellfire missile in Syria.
U.S. officials claimed shortly after the strike that the Predator drone had taken out a "senior Al Qaeda leader" even though they did not provide proof or name the suspect. The Pentagon has been tight-lipped about the strike and has not released any information about who their target was, if the target escaped, and what information they had indicating that Misto was an al- Qaeda terrorist.
The U.S. military is now walking back its claim that a recent strike in rural northwest Syria killed an al Qaeda leader, Lotfi Hassan Misto, a former bricklayer and father of 10. The Pentagon is uncertain as to who exactly was killed but maintains belief that it could still have been an individual with ties to al-Qaeda.
The slain man's brother described the killing as "an injustice and an aggression," while another family member called it "unfairly aggressive." There are concerns surrounding whether adequate intelligence gathering took place before executing such action on foreign soil.
Central Command is currently investigating reports suggesting Masto may have been a civilian caught up in unfortunate circumstances rather than being involved with extremist groups like al-Qaeda.
Lt. Gen James Benson, spokesperson for Central Command said: “We take all allegations of civilian casualties seriously, we will continue our investigation into this matter.”
As this story unfolds further questions arise regarding transparency within U.S military operations abroad; moreover highlighting potential discrepancies between official statements made post-strike versus actual outcomes on impacted communities around these areas targeted by counterterrorism efforts.