US names Al-Qaeda commander killed in Syria

WASHINGTON: The US military on Friday named the senior

Al-Qaeda

commander killed in an airstrike in the

Idlib

region of northwest

Syria

on September 20 as

Salim Abu-Ahmad

.

The drone strike targeted a vehicle on the road from Idlib city to Binnish, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said two jihadist commanders died.

The US Central Command acknowledged killing an Al-Qaeda official at the time, but did not name him.

In a statement on Friday, Centcom spokesman

John Rigsbee

said Salim Abu-Ahmad "was responsible for planning, funding, and approving trans-regional Al-Qaeda attacks".

"There are no indications of civilian casualties as a result of the strike," the statement added.

The Idlib region is dominated by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, but rebels and other jihadists are also present.

Jihadist factions have been the target of Syrian, Russian, US and international coalition strikes in the past.