The leader of one
of the biggest Islamist rebel groups in Syria has been killed by an explosion
in the north-western province of Idlib.
Ahrar
al-Sham said Hassan Abboud, pictured above, was among a
number of senior figures who died in the blast at the group's headquarters in
the town of Ram Hamdan.
There were conflicting reports about the
cause of the blast and it was also unclear who was responsible.
IS has been battling rebel groups for
control of northern and eastern Syria since January, when they launched a coordinated
offensive to expel it from the country.
The explosion targeted a meeting of as many
as 50 Ahrar al-Sham leaders in a basement at the group's heavily fortified
headquarters.
The Islamic Front, a rebel umbrella group
in which Ahrar al-Sham was the strongest faction, said that Abboud was among at
least a dozen senior figures killed.
Abu Baraa, a member of a rebel group allied
to Ahrar al-Sham said that a doctor who had examined the bodies said there was
little visible sign of external injuries.
The doctor saw bodies with frothing at the
mouth and fluid coming from the eyes and noses, Abu Baraa said, adding:
"This was a highly sophisticated attack in a location that was very
secure."
Ahrar al-Sham announced that Hashem
al-Sheikh, known as Abu Jaber, would succeed Abboud as leader, while Abu Saleh
Tahhan would be its new military chief.
"A group of the best leaders of Ahrar
al-Sham have been martyred. But Ahrar al-Sham is more determined than ever to
continue on the path to liberating our country from dictators," a video
statement said.
IS is the most likely group to be blamed
for the attack.
IS was accused of being behind a suicide
bombing that killed another Ahrar al-Sham leader - Abu Khaled al-Suri, a veteran al-Qaeda operative
- at his headquarters in Aleppo in February. al-Suri was Ayman Zawahiri's point man for al Qaeda in Syria. Zawahiri is the leader of al Qaeda.
In an interview before his death in June,
Hassan Abboud denounced IS, saying it represented "the worst image ever of
Islam."
Abboud, who was also known as Abu Abdullah
al-Hamawi, was imprisoned by the Syrian authorities after taking part in the
insurgency in Iraq but released in early 2011 as part of an amnesty.
He helped found Ahrar al-Sham (Free Men of
the Levant) in Idlib province in late 2011 and in December 2012 formed the
Syrian Islamic Front (SIF) with 10 other hardline Islamist groups.
Before its dissolution in November 2013,
when the creation of the Islamic Front was announced, SIF had become the most
powerful rebel force.
The Islamic Front refuses to come under the
umbrella of the Western-backed Supreme Military Council (SMC) of the Free
Syrian Army, but co-operates with SMC-aligned brigades on the battlefield, as
well as the al-Nusra
Front, al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.
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