Al Qaeda confirmed on Thursday that a U.S.-led coalition drone strike had killed senior leader Abu al-Khayr al-Masri in Syria, Reuters reported.
A statement issued by the militant group's Maghreb and Arabian Peninsula branches said he died in a "treacherous" drone strike it described as a "new crime by America and the crusader coalition".
A Hellfire missile fired by a CIA drone killed the al Qaeda leader on Sunday while he was riding in a car near the northwest Syrian city of Idlib, a U.S. intelligence official had said on Wednesday.
Al-Masri, 59, was a member of al Qaeda's shura council and second-in-command to its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
![November 2025 in photos: New Year at GUM, the "City of Living Stories," and autumn scenes](https://en.vestikavkaza.ru/upload2/s400xfull/2025-12-02/1764706769692f49d1538777.83780174.webp "November 2025 in photos: New Year at GUM, the "City of Living Stories," and autumn scenes")
!["City of Living Stories" Museum commemorating 1941 Parade starts on Red Square](https://en.vestikavkaza.ru/upload2/s400xfull/2025-11-11/1762891681691397a1526b44.05389807.webp ""City of Living Stories" Museum commemorating 1941 Parade starts on Red Square")
