Winning The War Against Terrorism? US Airstrikes Kill Osama Bin Laden Deputy In Syria

A longtime ally of terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden was killed Wednesday by the U.S. military in an airstrike in Idlib, Syria. Abu Hani al-Masri was killed by an unmanned drone Saturday along with 10 other al Qaeda operatives.

He was "a legacy al Qaeda terrorist with ties to the group's senior leaders, including Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden," said Eric Pahon, a Department of Defense spokesman. Zawahiri has ruled al Qaeda in the years since President Barack Osama killed Bin Laden during a raid in Pakistan. Mastri and Zawahiri are both Egyptian natives who had been with al Qaeda since its early days.

Mastri, who was believed to be about 65 years old, was instrumental to al Qaeda's group. He created training camps in Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s and, as one of the founders of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad terror group, he oversaw the first generation of suicide bombers in its terror attacks.

U.S. officials called his death a turning point in the war on terrorism. The raids struck a building near Idlib that was being used as an al Qaeda meeting place.

"These strikes disrupt al Qaeda's ability to plot and direct external attacks targeting the U.S. and our interests worldwide," said Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis, adding that Mastri recruited and trained "thousands of terrorists who subsequently spread throughout the region and the world."

Al Qaeda has vowed to avenge Bin Laden's death. His son, Hamza Bin Laden, appeared in an al Qaeda video in 2016 where he warned Americans they would be held accountable for Washington's attacks and the "oppression" of Muslims.

"If you think that your sinful crime that you committed in Abbottabad has passed without punishment, then you thought wrong," he said.

His father was killed in a May 2011 raid at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Hazma Bin Laden, the terror leader's youngest surviving child, was 19 at the time.