Top Syrian Rebel Leader Alloush Killed in Russian Missile Strike

A Syrian rebel commander Zahran Alloush has been killed by a missile which, the rebels believe, were from Russia.

A file photo of Zahran Alloush (middle) commander of Jaysh al Islam. (Photo: Reuters)

A top Syrian rebel leader and head of the most powerful insurgent group in the eastern suburbs of Damascus was killed in an aerial raid that targeted the group’s headquarters, rebel sources and the Syrian army said on Friday.

The death of Zahran Alloush, 44, head of Jaysh al Islam, is a big blow to rebel control of the rural eastern suburban area of Damascus known as al Ghouta, the rebels said.

Defence experts say the disarray among the rebel forces could also consolidate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s control over the rest of the area.

Several rebel leaders have been killed since Russia began an aerial campaign on September 30 in support of its ally Assad, although Moscow has insisted that it is concentrating its attacks on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Zahran Alloush Facts

• Fought militant Islamists and captured many jihadists.
• At odds with ISIS and Al Qaeda.
• Accused for kidnapping many prominent figures of Syria.
• Failed to win support for his group from Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
• Alloush had founded Liwa al-Islam, or the Brigade of Islam, with his father Abdallah, a Salafist Syrian cleric based in Saudi Arabia.
  
• He had a postgraduate degree in religious studies from a Saudi university.

Russian planes fired at least 10 missiles at a secret headquarters of the group, which is the largest rebel faction in the area and has about 15,000 to 20,000 fighters.

Western Intelligence

The Syrian army said Alloush was killed as the result of intelligence on the ground. Rebels blamed Russian sophisticated spying planes which they say rarely leave their skies.

A rebel source said the group had chosen one of their top military commanders, Abu Hammam al Buwaidani, as their new head.

Alloush’s martyrdom should be a turning point in the history of the revolution and rebel groups should realise they are facing a war of extermination and uprooting by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s regime.

Labib al Nahhas, Senior Figure in Main Ahrar al-Sham Rebel Group.

Al-Ghouta has been under siege for years and has been the target of some of the most intensive raids on civilians living in the once heavily populated area.

The rebels said Alloush was killed while holding a meeting with other rebel leaders in the Marj area of al-Ghouta, which has been the target of a major Syrian assault in the last few weeks.

(With agency inputs.)