According to the US Department of Defense, high-ranking al-Qaeda official Salim Abu-Ahmad was killed in a drone attack in the Turkish-occupied part of the Idlib region in north-western Syria on September 20.

A spokesman for the US Army Command, Major John Rigsbee, told the Military Times that Salim Abu-Ahmed was a notorious al-Qaida leader responsible for “planning, funding and approving” a large number of “national” attacks. "There is no evidence of civilian casualties as a result of the attack," he was quoted as saying. He added that the United States "will continue to target international terrorist networks overseas whose actions threaten its interests and allies around the world ".

This is not the first top jihadist to be tracked down by the US in the area controlled by Turkey. The self-proclaimed caliph of the terrorist militia Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was also killed in the Turkish-controlled area in Syria.