Tags
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Abu Khaled al-Soury, Abu Khaled al-Suri, Abu Omair al-Shamy, Afghanistan, al Nusra, Al Qaeda, Aleppo, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bashar al-Assad, commander of Ahrar al-Sham, infighting, Iraq, ISIL, Islamic State of Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, jihadi figure, killed by a suicide attack, Observatory for Human Rights in Syria, Osama bin Laden, Sheikh Abu Khaled, Sheikh Ayman, Sheikh Bin Laden, Syria, Syrian rebel commander, Syrian rebels, Terrorists, Terrorists Killed
A Syrian Jihadist commander who fought alongside al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and was close to its current chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed by a suicide attack on Sunday, intensifying infighting between rival fighters.
Abu Khaled al-Soury, also known as Abu Omair al-Shamy, a commander of Ahrar al-Sham was killed along with six gangsters by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). It said al-Soury had fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Al-Soury’s death will fuel the infighting among mercenary jihadist groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
a violent rivalry that has killed hundreds of fighters in recent months.
Two jihadists told Reuters that five ISIL members had entered Ahrar al-Sham headquarters in Aleppo, engaged its fighters and then one ISIL fighter blew himself up.
“Sheikh Abu Khaled was an important jihadi figure, he fought the Americans in Iraq and in Afghanistan. They (ISIL) gave the Americans a present, a free gift, by killing him,” said a Syrian jihadistl close to the group.
“He was a very important commander, he is a close friend of Sheikh Ayman (al-Zawahiri) and he knew Sheikh Bin Laden.”
Syrian terrorists mourning al-Soury posted his picture on social media accounts. A fighter called for revenge saying that ISIL had “pushed it too far this time”.
Al-Soury was born in Aleppo in 1963. A senior jihadist source said he had been based in Afghanistan but was sent by al-Zawahiri to Syria a few months ago on a mission to try to end the infighting.
Sources said that, by killing al-Soury, ISIL had taken the war to a new level, and that the decision to kill him must have been taken by the high command of ISIL, most probably its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who fell out last year with Zawahiri and the leader of the al-Nusra Front.
“Sheikh Abu Khaled was influential among the jihadis, specially among the ISIL fighters. He was the only one who could make them change their minds and stop the fighting,” another source said.
Sources close to Ahrar al-Sham said that al-Soury had rejected the infighting and opposed fighting ISIL. In an audiotape last year, Zawahiri appointed al-Soury as his man to mediate between terroristic groups to end the fighting.
The infighting has undermined the jihadists’ fight against Syrian People-Army-President in the three-year-old war.
News about the death of this criminal are also reported on English and French bulletin by the Syrian National Television News.
ENG
FRA
.
Nevaehwest on SFP – 24/02/2014
.
.
Reblogged this on freesuriyah.
May he rot in hell!