iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon has confirmed that an airstrike in Syria targeted a prominent al Qaeda member but no details about the member’s identity will be released until an assessment of the strike’s success is concluded, officials said.

“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,” said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. “Each time we remove a significant al Qaeda leader, we disrupt and degrade their command and control and halt their expansion This is another example of our government’s resolve to track down those whose objective is bringing terror to others, particularly external operations outside of Syria and Iraq.”

Unconfirmed reports on social media suggested that the target of the American airstrike was Abu al-Faraj al-Masri, a senior al Nusra commander.

Davis made clear to reporters Monday morning that this individual was a core al Qaeda leader. Core al Qaeda refers to the terror group founded by Osama bin Laden, now headed by Ayman al Zawahiri, that continues to operate in the tribal region of Pakistan.

Davis said there has been a resurgence of core al Qaeda in Syria, particularly through its one-time Syrian affiliate al Nusra Front, which has been a key Islamist rebel group in the Syrian Civil War. In July, the al Nusra Front publicly changed its name to Jabhat al Sham and severed ties to the parent al Qaeda organization.

The United States has designated Jabhat al Sham to be a terror organization.

Another group of al Qaeda members known as the Khorasan Group has moved from the Afghanistan-Pakistan tribal region to Syria to work with the Al Nusra Front to plan high-profile terror attacks. These groups were targeted by American airstrikes in an air campaign separate from the airstrikes targeting ISIS.

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