Image copyright Al-Manarah al-Bayda Image caption The Egyptian cleric was reportedly killed in Idlib province

A senior jihadist militant has reportedly been killed in a US air strike in north-western Syria.

Abu al-Faraj al-Masri died in Idlib province, according to a statement from Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which was known as al-Nusra Front until it formally broke off ties with al-Qaeda in July.

Masri, an Egyptian cleric, served on the group's Shura Council.

A Pentagon statement confirmed a US air strike had targeted him, but said that it was "still assessing the results".

Masri was "one of al-Qaeda in Syria's most senior leaders and a legacy al-Qaeda terrorist who previously had ties to Osama Bin Laden", it added.

"His death, if confirmed, would disrupt and degrade co-ordination among senior [al-Qaeda] leaders and extremists. The United States military will continue to target."

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported on Monday that Masri was killed when the vehicle he was travelling in was hit near the border with Turkey.

Jabhat Fateh al-Sham is one of the most powerful armed groups seeking to overthrow the government of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

In July, its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani claimed he was ending its affiliation with al-Qaeda and forming a new body with "no ties with any foreign party".

But analysts dismissed it as a public relations move, and the US immediately said it would continue to target the group, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN.

Masri, whose real name is Ahmed Salama Mabrouk, appeared alongside Jolani in the video announcing the name change.

Russia, which backs Syria's president, has accused the US of sparing Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and of failing to persuade the mainstream rebels it supports to distance themselves from the jihadist group.

Last month, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham's top military commander was killed in an air strike in the northern province of Aleppo. </s> A leading figure in al Qaeda who became a prominent member of its Syrian Jabhat al-Nusra offshoot was killed in a drone attack on Monday, the group and jihadist 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 jihadist named Abu Mohammad al Shami.

The US Defense Department said in a statement that Masri was the target of a US air strike near Idlib on Monday. "We are still assessing the results of the strike," it said.

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

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

In one of Masri's last public appearances, he was 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.

Last month, Abu Hajer al Homsi, the group's top commander, was killed in an air strike in rural Aleppo province.

Masri, 60, whose real name was Sheikh Ahmad Salamah Mabrouk, had been one of the leading companions of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri in Afghanistan in the late 1980s, according to a jihadist source.

Masri was one of the early leaders of the radical militant Egyptian Islamic Jihad movement. He was arrested after the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981 and spent seven years in prison.

Masri was also held secretly under a CIA rendition scheme after his arrest in Azerbaijan in 1998.

The source said that like some other jihadists, he came to Syria to join Nusra Front after being freed from an Egyptian prison during the rule of President Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist toppled by the military in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. </s> A US-led coalition air strike in northwestern Syria killed a top leader of al-Qaeda splinter group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham on Wednesday (18 January). Four other militants of the group were also killed in the strike on Idlib governorate, local reports said.

Abu Ibrahim al-Tunsi, the Tunisian jihadist, was reportedly a leading member of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly the al-Nusra Front.

"The air raid hit al-Tunsi's convoy in the Aqrabat district in Idlib," an activist told ARA News. However, coalition forces and the militant group are yet to confirm the leader's death.

US-led forces have targeted the splinter group's leadership in Syria in the past as well. In early January, the coalition succeeded in eliminating Abu Omar al-Turkistani, a military commander, and Abu Ali al-Tunsi, a security official. In 2016, coalition strikes killed Abu Afghan al-Masri, an Egyptian, Abu Faraj al-Masri, also an Egyptian, and Abu Omar Saraqeb, a Syrian jihadist, all leading the militant group in different capacities, the news agency reported.

Meanwhile, coalition forces also targeted Islamic State (Isis) positions in Iraq and Syria as part of their ongoing operation Inherent Resolve. In Syria, the coalition conducted 17 strikes near Abu Kamal, al-Bab, Raqqa, Ayn Isa and Dayr Az Zawr, destroying several tactical units, supply routes and oil wellheads.

The coalition also conducted six strikes in Iraq on Wednesday, mainly on Mosul, destroying three tunnel entrances, two vehicles, three vehicle-borne bombs, three barges, a watercraft, three fighting positions, three tactical vehicles, two mortars and an artillery piece, a tunnel, a fighting position, and 29 supply routes, the Pentagon said in a statement. </s> Syrian men search for people under the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike on the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib (AFP Photo/Omar haj kadour)

Washington (AFP) - A US air strike targeted a "prominent" Al-Qaeda leader in Syria on Monday, the Pentagon said, amid reports a senior leader of the group was killed near Idlib.

"We can confirm that we targeted a prominent Al-Qaeda member in Syria, and we are assessing the results of the operation at this time," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said.

"This is a prominent Al-Qeada leader," he added.

Word of the strike came as regional news reports and social media postings said Ahmed Salama Mabrouk, an Egyptian also known by his nom de guerre Abu Faraj, had been killed.

Davis said he was unable to discuss the target's identity until the Pentagon could confirm the strike was successful.

"Each time we remove a significant Al-Qaeda leader, we disrupt and degrade their command and control and halt their expansion," he said.

Mabrouk was born in 1956 in Egypt's Giza province.

He is known as a veteran Al-Qaeda leader and a commander of the Fateh al-Sham Front, which changed its name from Al-Nusra Front following a break with Al-Qaeda. </s> The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the country’s air forces conducted a high-precision group strike of the area controlled by Jabhat Fatah al-Sham militants in Idlib, from where a projectile was fired downing Russian Su-25 aircraft.

“A group strike using precision weapons has been conducted in the area controlled by the Jabhat al-Nusra [Jabhat Fatah al-Sham] terrorist group in Idlib province, from where the missile was launched against the [downed] Russian Su-25 airplane. According to radio intercepts, as a result of the strike, more than 30 militants of Jabhat al-Nusra were destroyed,” the report by the Russian Defense Ministry said.

“The plane was flying over the Idlib de-escalation zone,” the military stated.

The Defense Ministry revealed that according to preliminary information as to the possible cause of the downing, the plane may have been shot down by a man-portable air-defense system (MANPAD).

The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the pilot managed to eject from the aircraft and survive, but was killed during a subsequent battle with terrorists.

“The pilot reported on a bailout in an area controlled by rebels Jabhat Fatah al-Sham [previously known as al-Nusra Front]. When conducting a fight with terrorists, the pilot died,” the Defense Ministry said.

According to the ministry, Russia and Turkey, peace guarantor in Syria’s Idlib de-escalation zone, are taking all possible efforts to return the body of the killed pilot.

During the two-years long military operation in Syria, Russia lost four aircraft and four helicopters. According to Russian Defense Minister Yury Borisov, the country’s air forces used modernized Su-25SM ground attack aircraft are being used in Syria.

The Su-25 attack aircraft is designed to destroy small-size mobile and fixed ground objects, as well as low-speed air targets.

The conflict took place on the territory controlled by the Jabhat Fatah al-Sham terror group amid the ongoing military operation against them conducted by the Syrian forces.

Among various terror groups operating in the area, there is also Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an umbrella terrorist group spearheaded this year by the former Al-Nusra Front. While some countries such as the United States have flagged HTS as a terrorist group, Russian officials continue to refer to the Salafist jihadist terrorist organization by its old Al-Nusra moniker. Al-Nusra was the official Syrian branch of al-Qaeda until 2016, when it ostensibly split from the world’s most well-known terrorist network. </s> US claims air strike killed more than 100 al-Qaeda fighters just a day before President Obama left office.

A US air strike on Thursday targeting an al-Qaeda training camp in Syria killed more than 100 fighters, a US defence official said on Friday.

The strike took place just a day before the end of President Barack Obama's presidency and a day after more than 80 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) were killed in US air strikes in Libya.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the air strike was primarily carried out by a B-52 bomber and dropped 14 munitions.

The official added that the strike against the camp took place in Idlib province, west of Aleppo, and there was a high level of confidence that there were no civilian casualties.

A US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes and supporting local forces in Syria to oust ISIL.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday that an air strike killed more than 40 members of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly al Qaeda's Syrian branch) in northwestern Syria.

It was not immediately clear if this strike was the same one the US defence official was referring to.

A source in Fateh al-Sham confirmed that dozens had died in air strikes on a training camp in western Aleppo's countryside.

Jabhat Fateh al-Sham split from al-Qaeda in July, a move analysts said was aimed at easing pressure from both Russia and the United States.

However the group is not party to a Russian and Turkish-brokered ceasefire that went into effect on December 30.

According to the monitor, the group has sustained major losses in recent weeks with about 100 of its fighters killed since the start of 2017.

The Syrian conflict started in March 2011 as a largely unarmed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and quickly emerged into a full-scale civil war. </s> BEIRUT (Reuters) - An air strike killed more than 40 members of the jihadist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in northwestern Syria on Thursday night, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The group, formerly known as the Nusra Front, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Observatory said the air strike had targeted a Fateh al-Sham base in a rebel-held area west of Aleppo, and it was not clear if it had been carried out by Russian or U.S. planes. The Nusra Front renamed itself Fateh al-Sham last year when it formally dissolved ties to al Qaeda. </s> Terrorist group Tahrir al-Sham, linked to former terrorist Al Qaeda branch in Syria, claims responsibility for shooting down Russian combat jet SU-25 with shoulder-launched anti-aircraft Projectile.

Tahrir al-Sham released a post on social media quoting a commander in charge of its air raids as saying one of its militants had hit Russian SU-25 during an "air raid" over the city of Saraqeb in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Earlier on in the day, Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that dozens of terrorists were killed as a result of a powerful high precision strike targeting Syria's province of Idlib where Russian SU-25 aircraft was downed.

Russian Su-25 attack aircraft was downed in the Syrian northwestern province of Idlib on Saturday.

"When patrolling the Idlib de-escalation zone, a Russian Su-25 aircraft crashed… According to the preliminary information, the jet was shot down from a man-portable air-defense system," Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding that the pilot was killed.

It is noted that the pilot reported that he managed to eject from his plane and landed in an area controlled by Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group.

"The pilot was killed during a fight with terrorists," the Russian ministry said.

Terrorist group Tahrir al-Sham includes the terrorist group formerly known as the Nusra Front, which served as al Qaeda's Syrian branch, also a terrorist organization. </s> Feb. 3 (UPI) -- More than two dozen Syrian rebels on Saturday were killed by Russian cruise-missile attacks after Syrian rebels downed a Russian fighter jet.

The pilot of the Russian Su-25 fighter jet had ejected and landed safely but was later killed by terrorists, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Russia's retaliation of the Syrian attack used precision-guided weapons in a strike that killed more than 30 militants where the plane was downed in the northwest province of Idlib, according to reports.

The incident comes as Syrian government forces, with support by Russian air and Iranian arms, have intensified their offensive into the province, which is one of the last rebel-held strongholds in Syria and host to several al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist groups.

Russian and Syrian airstrikes have raised doubts about the future of Idlib, which has been firmly under the control of Islamist rebels since mid-2015. Most prominent among them is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a coalition of jihadist groups headed by Jabhat al-Nusra, now known as Fateh al-Sham.

Valery Gerasimov, the commander of Russian forces in Syria, called for Tahrir al-Sham's "elimination," saying that would be his top priority in 2018.
A United States Air Force drone strike kills a senior leader in the Syrian militant group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, Egyptian-born Abu al-Faraj al-Masri, in Jisr al-Shughur, Idlib Governorate.