A longtime al-Qaida operative was killed in a U.S. airstrike in early July while traveling near Sarmada, Syria, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Muhsin al-Fadhli was traveling in a vehicle when he was hit July 8. Sarmada is in Idlib province in the northern part of Syria.

Al-Fadhli was the leader of a network of al-Qaida operatives called the Khorasan Group, "who are plotting external attacks against the United States and our allies," Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.

Davis added that al-Fadhli "was a senior al-Qaida facilitator who was among the few trusted al-Qaida leaders that received advanced notification of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." 

The Pentagon said al-Fadhli also was involved in terrorist attacks that took place in October 2002, including against U.S. Marines on Faylaka Island, 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 our allies and partners," Davis said