An air strike near Syria’s battleground second city Aleppo killed the military leader of prominent Takfiri militant group and at least one other commander, Takfiri sources and a monitor said Thursday.
The strike on a meeting of commanders of the so-called “Jaish al-Fateh” (Army of Conquest) alliance came hot on the heels of a major defeat for the insurgents, which saw them under renewed siege inside Aleppo after an army advance this week.
Former Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, renamed “Fateh al-Sham Front” when it broke ties in July, announced on Twitter “the martyrdom” of commander Abu Omar Saraqeb in an air strike.
The Takfiri “Fateh al-Sham” is a leading member of the “Jaish al-Fateh” which groups its militants with other insurgents like “Ahrar al-Sham” in the most prominent anti-regime alliance.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said unidentified aircraft hit the “Jaish al-Fateh” meeting on Thursday night, killing Saraqeb and another militant commander named as Abu Muslim al-Shami.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said it was not immediately clear whether the strike was carried out by the Syrian army, Russian air forces or the US-led.
According to the London-based Observatory, Abu Omar Saraqeb was a leading member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq in its fight against the US-led occupation after 2003 before becoming a key commander of Al-Nusra Front and then “Fateh al-Sham” in Syria.
He reportedly also founded Al-Nusra Front’s Lebanon branch which has claimed responsibility for several bombings in Syria’s western neighbor.
He operates under different noms de guerre, making it difficult to know his nationality.
Source: AFP
