Pentagon admits killing a shepherd with a Hellfire missile in Syria in botched drone strike after mistaking him for a senior Al Qaeda leader

A botched U.S. drone strike in Syria killed a shepherd last year after he was mistakenly identified as a senior Al Qaeda operative.

The Pentagon has admitted a civilian and not a terrorist leader was slain on May 3, 2023 after an internal Central Command (CENTCOM) investigation.

The victim has since been 56-year-old father-of-10 Lufti Hasan Masto, who was killed while he was tending to his sheep.

A MQ-9 predator drone was tracking his movements in fields around his home in the rural town of Qorqanya when a Hellfire missile was fired in his direction.

Mohammed Hassan Masto sits next to the grave of his brother Lutfi, who was killed in a botched U.S. drone strike in May 2023, after he was mistaken for an Al Qaeda operative 

Masto's brother told the Washington Post they were having tea just 20 minutes earlier. 

Videos and photos show a plume of smoke rising into the air after the explosion.

Masto's neighbors called White Helmets - the emergency  

The suspect the U.S. thought they were tracking is still believed to be at large. 

CENTCOM 'determined U.S. forces misidentified the intended Al Qaeda target and that a civilian, Mr. Lufti Hasan Masto (Masto), was struck and killed instead'.

However officials said that the strike was conducted in compliance with the law and no one was disciplined as a result.

Videos and photos show a plume of smoke rising into the air after the explosion

A MQ-9 predator drone (pictured) was tracking Masto's movements in fields around his home in the rural town of Qorqanya when a Hellfire missile was fired in his direction

The family has not been compensated after the Department of Defense deemed it 'not appropriate'.  

The Pentagon has faced constant criticism for its drone program in the post-9/11 conflicts.

In August 2021, a the U.S. wrongly killed 10 civilians - including seven children - in an airstrike in Kabul.

The Pentagon initially said it was a successful operation against ISIS-K members plotting more attacks of the suicide blast at Hamid Karzai International Airport the same month.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Central Command for further comment. 

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