U.S. government officials appear to be climbing down from claims that a man slain in a Hellfire missile strike in Syria on May 3rd was a “senior Al Qaeda leader.” Similar to the drone strike that killed an aid worker’s family after Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal, the truth appears to be that the deceased was just a poor farmer in a field.
In early May 2023, Pentagon officials boasted about the kill, carried out by a Predator drone, but even the Washington Post now reports they are walking back their claims, with evidence mounting that the man they killed was an ordinary civilian.
“We are no longer confident we killed a senior AQ official,” one defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted to the newspaper.
Another, also anonymous official conceded “the strike did not kill the original target” as well, yet insisted they still “believe the person to be al-Qaeda.”