U.S. Airstrike Targeting Al-Qaeda Leader in Syria Wounds Family of 6: Officials

During an airstrike the United States carried out on Friday in Syria, a missile fired from a drone targeting an Al-Qaeda leader instead wounded a family six, the Associated Press reported.

Ahmad Qassim, 52, his wife Fatime Gargough, 48, his daughters Hiba, 16, and Batoul 15, and 12-year-old son Walid suffered a variety of nonlife-threatening injuries. However, his 10-year-old son, Mahmoud suffered serious head injuries.

The U.S. military said they knew the possibility of civilian casualties when carrying out a remote airstrike targeting "a senior Al-Qaeda leader and planner."

Qassim said the drone was targeting a man on a motorcycle that he was trying to overtake when the explosion occurred, AP reported.

"I briefly felt nothing after that," Qassim told AP.

The family of six was treated at a hospital in Idlib. Gargough broke her left leg and Qassim said one of his daughters hasn't been able to move since she had several pieces of shrapnel removed. Five of the family members have been released from the hospital.

Qassim said Mahmoud is still in intensive care and could have difficulty moving his left leg and arm for the rest of his life because of brain damage caused by the blast.

Qassim said that all he wants now is for his son to get better and be discharged from the hospital, AP reported.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

Qassim had picked up his family from his in-laws in northwestern Syria where they had spent four days and was driving back home Friday morning when an explosion occurred, riddling their vehicle with shrapnel.

The blast occurred near the northwestern village of Mastoumeh as the family drove back home to the northern town of Afrin.

Syria's 10-year conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and left large parts of the country destroyed. The Friday morning attack occurred in Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in Syria and home to 3 million people, many of them internally displaced, like Qassim's family.

The U.S. military says it conducted a strike from a remotely piloted MQ-9 aircraft Friday near the city of Idlib.

"We abhor the loss of innocent life and take all possible measures to prevent them. The possibility of a civilian casualty was immediately self-reported to U.S. Central Command," said Captain Bill Urban, CENTCOM spokesperson. He added: "We are initiating a full investigation of the allegations and will release the results when appropriate."

For years, the U.S. military has used drones to kill top Al-Qaeda operatives in northern Syria, where the militant group became active during Syria's civil war. Idlib at one point was described as having one of the largest Al-Qaeda concentrations since Osama bin Laden's days in Afghanistan. Among those killed in Syria over the years were Al-Qaeda members who were close to the group's founder and leader.

News of the civilian casualties comes days after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin appointed a four-star general to investigate a deadly March 2019 strike in Syria that caused civilian casualties, including women and children. The general would have 90 days to complete his review of that strike, which occurred as the Islamic State militant group was making its last stand in Baghouz, eastern Syria. The New York Times reported earlier this month that the strike in Baghouz killed up to 64 women and children.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the U.S. drone fired three missiles in Friday's attack, killing a former member of the Al-Qaeda-linked Horas al-Din group, Arabic for "Guardians of Religion." Horas al-Din are hardcore Al-Qaeda members who broke away from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the strongest insurgent group in the Idlib enclave.

The Observatory said the man who was killed had left the group nearly a year ago, adding that he was a Syrian citizen from the northwestern region of Jabal al-Zawiya in Idlib province. It was not clear whether he was still a fighter.

Qassim jumped out of the car with minor arm and head wounds and helped his family get out of the vehicle after the initial blast.

People rushed from nearby homes and helped them reach a hospital even before members of the Syrian Civil Defense or White Helmets arrived, he said.

The Syrian Civil Defense confirmed in a statement on Friday that members of a displaced family were wounded in the strike.

They are now back with Qassim's in-laws in the nearby village of Rami.

Every day, Qassim drives to Idlib, the provincial capital, 10 kilometers (6 miles) away to check on his youngest son.

Qassim's family is from the village of Kfar Bateekh, which was captured by Syrian government forces in March last year during a crushing Russian-backed government offensive on Idlib.

"If God cures Mahmoud, I will be well," he said.