The Biden Administration is walking back a claim that a drone strike killed a senior Al-Qaeda leader earlier this month; it was actually a father of ten who was tending to his sheep. He was hit and killed by a Hellfire missile in Syria.
From WaPo:
Lotfi Hassan Misto, 56, whose family identified him as the victim of a Hellfire missile attack on May 3, was a former bricklayer who lived quietly in this town in northwest Syria, according to interviews with his brother, son and six others who knew him. They described a kind, hard-working man whose “whole life was spent poor.”
The operation was overseen by U.S. Central Command, which claimedhours after the strike, without citing evidence or naming a suspect, that the Predator drone strike had targeted a “senior Al Qaeda leader.” But now there is doubt inside the Pentagon about who was killed, two U.S. defense officials told The Washington Post.
“We are no longer confident we killed a senior AQ official,” one official said. The other, offering a slightly different view, said “though we believe the strike did not kill the original target, we believe the person to be al-Qaeda.” Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss preliminary determinations of an ongoing investigation into the incident.
“Centcom takes all such allegations seriously and is investigating to determine whether or not the action may have unintentionally resulted in harm to civilians,” said Michael Lawhorn, a spokesman for Central Command.
This isn’t the first time the Biden Administration has killed innocent targets. During 2021’s botched Afghanistan evacuation, it reported that a drone strike had taken out someone responsible for the suicide bombings that killed 13 U.S. service members when, in fact, the drone had killed 10 Afghan civilians —including 7 children.
More over at The Washington Post:
Breaking news: U.S. military officials are walking back claims that a strike in Syria killed a senior al-Qaeda figure, following claims by the dead man’s family that he had no ties to terrorists but was tending to sheep when he was slain by the missile.https://t.co/1I8iRBH9BL
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 18, 2023
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