Leading Al Qaeda figure killed in Syria — militant sources

AMMAN — A leading figure in Al Qaeda who became a prominent member of its Syrian Nusra Front offshoot was killed in a drone attack on Monday, the group and militant sources said.

They said Sheikh Abu Al Faraj Al Masri, who spent years in prison in his native Egypt on charges of plotting with fundamentalist Islamist groups and later left for Afghanistan, died when the vehicle in which he was travelling was hit in rebel-held Idlib in Syria's northwest.

"May God accept him as a martyr who was killed in a Crusader raid," said a militant named Abu Mohammad Al Shami.

Since the US-led coalition launched operations in Syria, primarily against Daesh militants, air strikes have also targeted Nusra Front figures, killing scores.

A US Defence Department official confirmed to Reuters that it had targeted a prominent Al Qaeda member in Syria.

"We will not discuss specific operations or release information about air strikes against high-value targets until we can confirm it was a successful strike," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Syria's militant Jabhat Fateh al Sham, formerly the Nusra Front, confirmed the death of the Egyptian cleric in an air strike.

In one of Masri's last public appearances, he was present alongside former Nusra leader Abu Mohamad Al Jolani when the group announced in July it was renaming itself Jabhat Fateh Al Sham to deny Washington and other powers a pretext to attack it.

Washington dismissed that move as cosmetic and said it would continue to target it as a terrorist group.