Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — President Bashar Assad has lost a close relative as well as a leading commander in the war against Sunni rebels in Syria.

Opposition sources said Hilal Assad was killed by a sniper in the northern city town of Kassab near Latakia.

The sources said the 46-year-old Hilal was a first cousin of the president as well as a commander in the National Defense Forces in the coastal region.

“Not that much is known about him,” the U.S. website Syria Comment said. “Most reports about him are not accurate.”

Hilal was the closest relative of Assad reported killed in the three-year rebel war in nearly two years. In July 2012, the president’s brother-in-law, Assaf Chawkat, was killed in a bombing of security headquarters in Damascus.

Syrian television reported the death and burial of Hilal while numerous video messages were posted on the Internet. But the regime did not issue a formal announcement.

“For them, Hilal Assad death in battle is seen as a great honor,” Syrian Comment said. “But his death also reminded everyone in Latakia that death and danger was at their door, closer than anyone had thought.”

In a report by somebody identified only as Mohammad D., Syria Comment
said Hilal, protected by his family as well as membership in the Shabiha
militia, became rich from smuggling. In 1998, Hilal was appointed branch
head in the military’s construction company, where he was accused of
withholding salaries of employees.

In 2012, the Assad regime formed the National Defense Forces and Hilal
was appointed commander in Latakia. Over the last two years, NDF has grown
from a militia to an army that contains main battle tanks and heavy
artillery.

Hilal’s 17-year-old son, Suleiman, was also recruited to NDF despite his
reputation as a troublemaker. Syria Comment said Suleiman went on two
rampages against Sunnis after the death of his father.

“He [Suleiman] ran away when the Mukhabarat [Syrian intelligence] showed
up,” Syria Comment said. “This attack only deepened the sectarian divisions
in the city.”

  Assad’s cousin killed by sniper in northern Syria near Latakia, Hilal Assad, Kassab, Shabiha militia