Lotfi Hassan Misto Wiki – Lotfi Hassan Misto Biography
The family identified the father of ten children, Lotfi Hassan Misto, 56, as the man killed in the May 3 attack, who they say was a former bricklayer living in the sleepy northern town of Qorqanya, according to the Washington Post. . The US military has backtracked on claiming he killed a top al-Qaeda chief in a drone strike in Syria, according to reports.
Authorities changed their minds after the family of the man killed by a Hellfire missile said he had no ties to terrorists and was tending his sheep when he died. US Central Command, or CENTCOM, oversaw the operation and hours later issued a statement saying it had carried out an attack “against a senior al Qaeda leader.”
Authorities did not provide further details and did not reveal the identity of the alleged terrorist leader they were targeting with the attack. At 11:42 a.m. local Syrian time on May 3, US Central Command forces carried out a unilateral attack in northwestern Syria against a senior al Qaeda leader,” the statement said. ‘We will provide more information as operational details become available.
Lotfi Hassan Misto Age
Lotfi Hassan Misto was 56 years old.
Lotfi Hassan Misto as the man killed in the May 3 attack, who they say was a former bricklayer living in the sleepy northern town of Qorqanya
The statement quoted General Michael ‘Erik’ Kurilla, CENTCOM commander, as saying: “This operation reaffirms CENTCOM’s steadfast commitment to the region and the lasting defeat of ISIS and Al Qaeda.”
However, according to the Washington Post, Misto’s family has denied that he has any connection to the notorious terrorist group. They said he was a kind and hard-working man whose ‘whole life was spent in poverty,’ the publication reported.
Speaking to The Post on condition of anonymity, two officials have retracted their claim that the attack killed a senior al-Qaeda leader. “We are no longer sure that we have killed a senior AQ official,” said one, according to the newspaper. Another said: ‘Although we believe the attack did not kill the original target, we believe the person is al-Qaeda.’
In the weeks since the original statement, military officials have refused to identify who the intended target of the attack was. They have also refused to say how the alleged mistake occurred, or if an actual terrorist leader escaped.
A week after the attack, the US military said it was investigating reports that there was a civilian casualty in the attack in a rural area in the northern province of Idlib. Major John Moore, a CENTCOM spokesman, said on May 9 that US forces “are in the process of confirming the identity of the person killed in the attack.”
“We are aware of the claims of a civilian victim and the outcome of the confirmation process will inform whether further investigation is necessary and how it should proceed,” he said. The local civil defense group in northwestern Syria, known as the White Helmets, said in a statement that it had responded to the site after hearing the sounds of an explosion.
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They said they discovered that a drone strike had killed Lutfi Hassan Masto, 60 (he was later reported to be 56), a local resident who was tending his sheep at the time. Three of the animals also died, according to the statement. Masto’s brother, Mohamed Masto, told The Associated Press that reports that his brother was involved in al Qaeda were “absolute lies” and that his murder was “an injustice and an assault.”
He had nothing to do with the revolution. …he had nothing to do with al-Nusra Front or Islamic State or any of the other armed groups involved in Syria’s 12-year uprising turned civil war, Masto said.
Fayad Jamil Raji, a neighbor, said he had known Lufti Masto, or ‘Abu Hassan’, a nickname meaning ‘Hassan’s father’, for many years. The man was a civilian. He had a farm with birds, cows and sheep,’ he said. Moore said that CENTCOM missions are “meticulously planned and executed to maximize success and minimize the risk of collateral damage and harm to civilians.”
The attack is understood to have been carried out by an MQ-9 Predator drone. The Washington Post said that Masto had breakfast with his family in the morning, like any other day, before going to attend to his animals. The Hellfire missile killed him at around 11:50 am near where he had shared tea with his brother some 20 minutes earlier. Residents described seeing a plume of smoke billowing from an explosion into the clear blue sky.
One resident contacted the White Helmets through an emergency line, and a team of responders arrived within ten minutes of the strike. The Washington Post said it had seen a video of the aftermath, with Masto’s relatives crying and being pulled away from his severely disfigured body.
Terror experts quickly raised doubts over the US military’s claim that Masto was linked to the terror group, citing the White Helmets’ quick response and the information they learned about the victim immediately in the aftermath.
Nothing suggests he had terrorist ties, they have said. On any given day, there are at least 900 US forces in Syria, along with an undisclosed number of contractors, who partner with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
They are tasked with preventing the return of the Islamic State group, which swept through Iraq and Syria in 2014, seizing control of large swaths of territory and at times also attacking other militant groups. In April, CENTCOM reported that it had participated in 35 missions in Iraq and Syria, killing 13 suspected Islamic State operatives and detaining 28.
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