A drone strike carried out by the United States-led coalition in north-western Syria has killed a senior member of Islamic State who was in charge of planning attacks in Europe, the US military said on Tuesday.
The man killed on Monday in the strike was identified by a US military statement as Khalid Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri.
The military statement added that his death "will temporarily disrupt the organisation's ability to plot external attacks."
The statement said, along with planning attacks in Europe, he also developed the leadership structure for the group.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said on Monday that one person was killed in a drone strike near the rebel-held village of Kefteen.
The opposition's Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, said it evacuated the man from the scene of the attack and he later succumbed to his wounds.
The strike was the latest in a series of attacks over the past years targeting al-Qaida-linked militants and senior members of Islamic State in north-western Syria.
Most of those killed by US strikes in the rebel-held Idlib province over the past years were members of al-Qaida offshoot Horas al-Din, which is Arabic for "Guardians of Religion."
The group includes hardcore al-Qaida members who broke away from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the strongest insurgent group in Idlib province.
In February, a drone strike killed two men, whom local activists initially identified as Horas al-Din members.
The Observatory later said that one of the two killed was a senior member of the militant group that was defeated in Syria in March 2019.
AP/ABC
