Pentagon admits airstrike killed civilians, not al Qaeda leaders, in Syria last year

The Pentagon acknowledged Thursday that it mistakenly killed a civilian in a 2023 airstrike in northwestern Syria after the U.S. military mistakenly identified the man as a senior al Qaeda leader.

An internal investigation concluded that U.S. forces “misidentified Al Qaeda’s intended target and that a civilian, Mr. Lutfi Hasan Masto (Masto), was struck and killed,” according to a statement from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM ) on the conclusions.

The investigation also concluded that although the attack was “conducted in compliance with the law of armed conflict as well as Department of Defense and CENTCOM policies,” it “revealed several issues that could be improved.”

CENTCOM said it could not publicly share many facts and findings from the investigation as they involve confidential information.

“We are committed to learning from this incident and improving our targeting processes to mitigate potential civilian harm,” CENTCOM said, adding that it “acknowledges and regrets the civilian harm that resulted from the airstrike.”

The US military initially claimed it had killed a senior al Qaeda leader in the May 3, 2023 attack in northwestern Syria. Instead, it targeted Masto, a 56-year-old pastor.

CENTCOM ordered an investigation last June, weeks after The Washington Post published a May 18 report about the strike, in which Masto’s family said he had no links to terrorists.

U.S. officials quickly dismissed claims that a senior al Qaeda figure had been killed and closed the investigation in November, but only publicly admitted on Thursday that they had mistaken Masto for an al Qaeda official.

The Post reported that Masto was tracked by an armed Predator drone before U.S. forces fired a Hellfire missile at him behind his home and chicken farm.

The Pentagon committed in January 2022 to work to reduce these civilian casualties and increase transparency if they occur.

The directive followed public outcry and scrutiny over several high-profile U.S. drone strikes, including a failed Aug. 29 attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed 10 people, including seven children, and an attack in Syria in 2019 that killed dozens of women and children.