Mole-aided air strike destroys underground bunker, kills 47 Syrian rebel leaders

Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — A leading Sunni rebel militia has been decimated.

The leadership of Ahrar Al Sham has been eliminated in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib. Opposition sources said at least 28 of 50 senior members of Ahrar, including its commander Hassan Abboud, were killed in what could have been an operation by the Syrian Air Force.

Hassan Abboud, seated, was the head of the political bureau of the Islamic Front alliance.
Hassan Abboud, seated, was the head of the political bureau of the Islamic Front alliance.

“Forty-seven first- and second-tier leaders of Ahrar were killed in air strikes in several locations,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Opposition sources said the Syrian Air Force fired air-to-ground missiles at an underground bunker in the northern town of Ram Hamdan where the Ahrar leadership had convened. They said the strike reflected a mole inside Ahrar, deemed one of the most effective rebel militias.

Ahrar has been a member of the Saudi-backed Islamic Front. The rebel militia has been targeted by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in northern Syria, particularly around Idlib. In January 2014, a senior Ahrar leader, Abu Khaled Al Suri, was killed in an ISIL suicide bombing.

Other sources said the Ahrar leadership was killed by poison gas pumped into the bunker. They said the bodies of the leaders did not show any signs of damage from an explosion.

“The gutting of Ahrar Al Sham’s leadership will have major ripple effects in the opposition,” Aron Lund, a leading European researcher on Syria, said. “Unless Ahrar Al Sham somehow manages to recover and sustain its relevance as a major Islamist faction, the Islamic Front may now be beyond repair.”

Another Islamist rebel commander was also reported assassinated in northern Syria. The commander, affiliated with Al Qaida’s Nusra Front for the Defense of the Levant, was killed in Aqerabat, an area held by ISIL in the Hama province.

On Sept. 10, Ahrar said it appointed a successor to Abboud. The new leader was identified as Hashem Al Sheik, also known as Abu Jaber.

“Jihadi men of our nation,” Al Sheik said, “do not let the crisis shake you or the calamity divide you.”

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