Pentagon: 'Kinetic Strike' Kills Khorassan Leader in Syria

The Pentagon has initiated the name “Khorasan ” to designate hard-core Al Qaeda operatives in the Levant. The first time the name was used on an US strike in Syria to decimate its leadership. This Al Qaeda operative has been targeted before and presumed killed. In the Bush years, Muhsin al-Fadhli was linked to be operating out of Iran, part of the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel demonizing the axis Hezbollah in Lebanon – Assad in Syria and Ahmadinejad in Iran. Pentagon accusations Iran fighters were deployed in Iraq to fight the occupiers and provide IEDs to insurgents.

John Kerry is dumbfounded his nuclear deal did not receive a reception of flowers in Teheran. Forgetting 12 years of hardship living under sanctions, a belligerent US Congress and the Reagan administration providing intelligence and cover for Saddam Hussein’s hideous use of poison gas to decimate Iranian forces defending their nation.

Pentagon Official Confirms Death of Khorasan Group Leader

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2015 – Muhsin al-Fadhli, a longtime al-Qaida operative, was killed “in a kinetic strike” July 8 while traveling in a vehicle near Sarmada, Syria, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, the Defense Department’s press operations chief, said today.

Fadhli was the leader of a network of veteran al-Qaida operatives, sometimes called the Khorasan Group, who are plotting external attacks against the United States and its allies, Davis said in a statement.

He was a senior al-Qaida facilitator who was among the few trusted al-Qaida leaders who received advance notification of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Davis said, and also was involved in terrorist attacks that took place in October 2002, including against U.S. Marines on Faylaka Island in Kuwait and on the French ship MV Limburg.

His death will degrade and disrupt ongoing external operations of al-Qaida against the United States and its allies and partners, the captain said.

Muhsin al-Fadhli – Up to $7 Million Reward

Muhsin al-Fadhli is an Iran-based senior al-Qaida facilitator and financier. He has reportedly replaced Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil (better known as Yasin al-Suri) as al-Qaida’s senior leader in Iran. [In US Government statements, al-Suri is accused supporting the Syrian al-Nusra Front in its network. Both Israel and the US are now reframing Al-Nusra as a moderate group and capable to be part of Syria’s future after Assad’s demise – Oui]

Al-Fadhli was designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury pursuant to Executive Order 13224 on February 15, 2005, for providing financial and material support to the al-Zarqawi Network and al-Qaida. On February 17, 2005, the UN Security Council’s al-Qaida Sanctions Committee listed al-Fadhli for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetration of al-Qaida acts. The listing subjects him to international freezing of assets, a travel ban, and an embargo on supply of equipment and other legal assistance.

At that time, Muhsin al-Fadhli was considered an al-Qaida leader in the Gulf countries and provided support to Iraq-based fighters against U.S. and multinational forces. He was also considered a major facilitator to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and prior to that was involved in several attacks in October 2002 including the attack on the French ship, MV Limburg, which injured four crew members, killed one, and released 50,000 barrels of crude oil along 45 miles of coastline.

Born about 1975 in Saudi Arabia, Ahmed al-Darbi joined the Saudi military in 1992, then trained with Islamic militants in Bosnia [facilitated by US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia], and in 1996 began training at an al-Qaeda camp after receiving permission from Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, according to court documents. In early 2000, he began planning the Yemen attack, buying boats, GPS equipment and a hydraulic crane, prosecutors said.

He is wanted by law enforcement authorities in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United States for terrorism-related activities. In June 2005, Saudi authorities placed him on a list of wanted suspects in connection with a series of terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia. Al-Fadhli and three other suspects were convicted in a Kuwaiti court in February 2003 for providing funding for terrorist activities and military training in Afghanistan for purposes of terrorism. Al-Fadhli and his co-conspirators were sentenced to five-year jail sentences.

Al-Fadhli fought alongside the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan and is reported to have been among the few trusted al-Qaida operatives who received advance notification that terrorists would strike the United States on September 11, 2001.