Whether or not American military intervention in Syria is ill-advised can and should be debated, but this is a president who has an impressive record of finding and neutralizing bad guys with violent intent on Western targets. Muhsin al-Fadhli was not only the leader of the group, but was thought to be planning "imminent attacks against the West".
Kuwaiti al-Fadhli was a confidant of Osama bin Laden who likely had prior knowledge of the attack against the US on 911, according to intelligence sources, and had a $7 million bounty on his head.
Intelligence sources indicate that he was involved in several recent terrorist actions, including an attack on a French ship, and was wanted for terrorist attacks in 2005. In 2003, al-Fadhli was convicted by a Kuwaiti court for providing funding for terrorist activities and military training in Afghanistan for purposes of terrorism. He was later released after serving five years in prison, despite U.S authorities’ attempts to have him handed over to American forces.
Absolute confirmation of al-Fadhli's elimination has yet to be established, but all signs point to a successful air strike.
"We can't confirm [al-Fadhli's death] at this stage. We've seen reports on social media to that effect. We will continue to look for signs as to whether or not that's, in fact, the case," [National Security Advisor Susan] Rice told NBC.