The Pentagon on Thursday confirmed it killed a senior al Qaeda leader in Syria, saying the strike is a “significant disruption” to the group. Abu al-Farai al-Masri, an Egyptian national also known as Ahmad Salamah Mabruk, was killed in an Oct. 3 strike near Idlib, Syria. The strike will serve as “a blow to their ability to conduct external attacks,” Cook said. Al-Masri is a long-standing al Qaeda member who previously had ties to Osama bin Laden, the Pentagon said in a statement.
Pentagon officials overseeing homeland counter-drone strategy told lawmakers that even with preliminary moves to bolster U.S. base defenses, the military still lacks the capability to comprehensively identify, track, and engage hostile drones like those that breached the airspace of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days in December…