Top Syrian rebel killed in airstrike near Damascus

The head of the most powerful Syrian insurgent group in the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus was killed on Friday in a Russian air strike on the secret headquarters of his group, rebel sources said.

The leader of one of the most powerful rebel groups in Syria appears to have been killed in an airstrike near the capital. State television said the bodies of Mr Alloush and other rebel leaders were buried in the rubble after the air strike, Reuters reported.

Although Alloush’s forces have battled extremist groups such as the Islamic State, he also had issued statements that appeared sympathetic to al-Qaeda and its late leader, Osama bin Laden.

Mr Alloush’s forces receive backing from Saudi Arabia, which has supported Syrian rebels but has thrown its weight behind the renewed diplomatic push to end the conflict.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an airstrike hit an Islam Army meeting near the Damascus suburb of Otaya on Friday killing several officials including Allouch.

Rebels said he was killed by Russian missiles that hit Eastern Ghouta, a swathe of territory that has been besieged for years.

“The death of Zahran Alloush, head of Jaysh al-Islam [the Army of Islam], is a big blow to rebel control of the rural eastern suburban area known as al-Ghouta, the rebels said”.

The Islam Army was the main rebel group responsible for the daily mortar attacks against civilian areas inside Damascus.

Allouch joined the armed opposition after being released from prison in March 2011 as part of a general amnesty that Assad granted soon after the uprising against his regime started.

In July, they drew condemnation for executing 18 alleged members of the Islamic State group in a video mimicking IS’s own gruesome productions. Jaish al-Islam has reportedly named Abu Hammam al-Buwaidani as his successor.

Analysts expect Alloush’s death to have profound ripple effects on Syria’s fragmented rebel movement as well as budding peace talks.

Other rebels said that Alloush’s assassination is a part of Russian goal in Syria to eliminate the alternative opposition to Assad.

But with Alloush gone, that cohesion could “unravel”, Lund added.

Jaysh al-Islam, whose fighters number in the thousands, participated earlier this month in the Riyadh conference, which laid the groundwork for future Saudi-led peace talks.

Russian Federation is a key ally of Syria.

“Those negotiations needed hardliners like Zahran Alloush to be involved for their credibility”, Lund said.