Image copyright Al-Manarah al-Bayda Image caption The Egyptian cleric was reportedly killed in Idlib province

A senior jihadist militant has reportedly been killed in a US air strike in north-western Syria.

Abu al-Faraj al-Masri died in Idlib province, according to a statement from Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which was known as al-Nusra Front until it formally broke off ties with al-Qaeda in July.

Masri, an Egyptian cleric, served on the group's Shura Council.

A Pentagon statement confirmed a US air strike had targeted him, but said that it was "still assessing the results".

Masri was "one of al-Qaeda in Syria's most senior leaders and a legacy al-Qaeda terrorist who previously had ties to Osama Bin Laden", it added.

"His death, if confirmed, would disrupt and degrade co-ordination among senior [al-Qaeda] leaders and extremists. The United States military will continue to target."

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported on Monday that Masri was killed when the vehicle he was travelling in was hit near the border with Turkey.

Jabhat Fateh al-Sham is one of the most powerful armed groups seeking to overthrow the government of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

In July, its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani claimed he was ending its affiliation with al-Qaeda and forming a new body with "no ties with any foreign party".

But analysts dismissed it as a public relations move, and the US immediately said it would continue to target the group, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN.

Masri, whose real name is Ahmed Salama Mabrouk, appeared alongside Jolani in the video announcing the name change.

Russia, which backs Syria's president, has accused the US of sparing Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and of failing to persuade the mainstream rebels it supports to distance themselves from the jihadist group.

Last month, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham's top military commander was killed in an air strike in the northern province of Aleppo.</s>A leading figure in al Qaeda who became a prominent member of its Syrian Jabhat al-Nusra offshoot was killed in a drone attack on Monday, the group and jihadist sources said.

They said Sheikh Abu al Faraj al Masri, who spent years in prison in his native Egypt on charges of plotting with fundamentalist Islamist groups and later left for Afghanistan, died when the vehicle in which he was travelling was hit in rebel-held Idlib in Syria's northwest.

"May God accept him as a martyr who was killed in a Crusader raid," said a jihadist named Abu Mohammad al Shami.

The US Defense Department said in a statement that Masri was the target of a US air strike near Idlib on Monday. "We are still assessing the results of the strike," it said.

Since the US-led coalition launched operations in Syria, primarily against Isis militants, air strikes have also targeted al-Nusra figures, killing scores.

Syria's militant Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly the Jabhat al-Nusra, confirmed the death of the Egyptian cleric in an air strike.

In one of Masri's last public appearances, he was alongside former Nusra leader Abu Mohamad al-Jolani when the group announced in July it was renaming itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham to deny Washington and other powers a pretext to attack it.

Washington dismissed that move as cosmetic and said it would continue to target it as a terrorist group.

Last month, Abu Hajer al Homsi, the group's top commander, was killed in an air strike in rural Aleppo province.

Masri, 60, whose real name was Sheikh Ahmad Salamah Mabrouk, had been one of the leading companions of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri in Afghanistan in the late 1980s, according to a jihadist source.

Masri was one of the early leaders of the radical militant Egyptian Islamic Jihad movement. He was arrested after the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981 and spent seven years in prison.

Masri was also held secretly under a CIA rendition scheme after his arrest in Azerbaijan in 1998.

The source said that like some other jihadists, he came to Syria to join Nusra Front after being freed from an Egyptian prison during the rule of President Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist toppled by the military in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.</s>Syrian men search for people under the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike on the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib (AFP Photo/Omar haj kadour)

Washington (AFP) - A US air strike targeted a "prominent" Al-Qaeda leader in Syria on Monday, the Pentagon said, amid reports a senior leader of the group was killed near Idlib.

"We can confirm that we targeted a prominent Al-Qaeda member in Syria, and we are assessing the results of the operation at this time," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said.

"This is a prominent Al-Qeada leader," he added.

Word of the strike came as regional news reports and social media postings said Ahmed Salama Mabrouk, an Egyptian also known by his nom de guerre Abu Faraj, had been killed.

Davis said he was unable to discuss the target's identity until the Pentagon could confirm the strike was successful.

"Each time we remove a significant Al-Qaeda leader, we disrupt and degrade their command and control and halt their expansion," he said.

Mabrouk was born in 1956 in Egypt's Giza province.

He is known as a veteran Al-Qaeda leader and a commander of the Fateh al-Sham Front, which changed its name from Al-Nusra Front following a break with Al-Qaeda.</s>A senior commander in Syria's rebranded al-Qaida affiliate, who was close to the global network's top leader Ayman al-Zawahri, has been killed in an airstrike, the group said Monday.

The Fatah al-Sham Front, previously known as the Nusra Front, announced the death of Ahmed Salama Mabrouk shortly after the Pentagon said the U.S. had targeted a prominent member of the group in Syria.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said Mabrouk was targeted in the airstrike by U.S. forces, but did not confirm his death, saying that the results of the strike are still being assessed.

"His death, if confirmed, would disrupt and degrade coordination among senior AQ leaders and extremists," Cook said.

A Twitter account run by the Fatah al-Sham Front said that Mabrouk, a veteran Egyptian jihadist also known as Abu Farag al-Masri, was killed in the northern Idlib province, which is controlled by an insurgent alliance that includes the Fatah al-Sham Front.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said Mabrouk was killed when his vehicle was struck near the border with Turkey.

Another senior commander from the group, Abu Omar Saraqib, was killed in an airstrike last month.

Mabrouk was imprisoned in his native Egypt in 1981 in the sweep following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. He later traveled to Afghanistan, where he became close to al-Zawahri before traveling to Syria earlier this year.

Fatah al-Sham recently announced it was changing its name and severing ties with al-Qaida in a video in which Mabrouk sat next to the group's top leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

But in part because of the presence of al-Qaida veterans like Mabrouk among its ranks, most experts still view the group as an al-Qaida affiliate, and both the United States and Russia have vowed to keep striking it.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — A senior commander in Syria’s rebranded al-Qaida affiliate, who was close to the global network’s top leader Ayman al-Zawahri, has been killed in an airstrike, the group said Monday.

The Fatah al-Sham Front, previously known as the Nusra Front, announced the death of Ahmed Salama Mabrouk shortly after the Pentagon said the U.S. had targeted a prominent member of the group in Syria. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to provide further details.

A Twitter account run by the group said that Mabrouk, a veteran Egyptian jihadist also known as Abu Farag al-Masri, was killed in the northern Idlib province, which is controlled by an insurgent alliance that includes the Fatah al-Sham Front.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said Mabrouk was killed when his vehicle was struck near the border with Turkey.

Another senior commander from the group, Abu Omar Saraqib, was killed in an airstrike last month.

Mabrouk was imprisoned in his native Egypt in 1981 in the sweep following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. He later traveled to Afghanistan, where he became close to al-Zawahri before traveling to Syria earlier this year.

Fatah al-Sham recently announced it was changing its name and severing ties with al-Qaida in a video in which Mabrouk sat next to the group’s top leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

But in part because of the presence of al-Qaida veterans like Mabrouk among its ranks, most experts still view the group as an al-Qaida affiliate, and both the United States and Russia have vowed to keep striking it.
A United States Air Force drone strike kills a senior leader in the Syrian militant group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, Egyptian-born Abu al-Faraj al-Masri, in Jisr al-Shughur, Idlib Governorate.