Top Syrian rebel commander killed in airstrike near the capital Damascus

Earlier this month, Alloush members and other insurgent groups attended a summit in Saudi Arabia aimed at continuing peace talks.

It was not immediately clear who was behind his death.

Zahran Alloush, who headed Jaish al-Islam, was holding meetings with rebel officials when its compound near the Syrian capital came under attack, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Observatory said it was unclear in the immediate aftermath whether the airstrike was launched by Syrian or Russian warplanes.

UPDATE 11:30 a.m. ET: Opposition forces confirm that an airstrike near Damascus killed Syrian rebel commander Zahran Alloush Friday. Jaish al Islam’s largest footholds in Syria are in Eastern Ghouta and Douma.

The Army of Islam faction is the most powerful group fighting government forces as well as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) near Damascus.

For the government, Allouch’s killing represents a boost following recent military advances by the army. “We condemn acts of violence all over the world regardless of who commits them and who are the victims”. The station said 13 airstrikes hit eastern Damascus today.

The Army of Islam said it has appointed Essam al-Buwaydhani, a field commander known as Abu Hammam, as the new leader of the group.

“He was martyred this afternoon”, Munajed said via Skype, referring to Allouch.

Alloush, a one-time building contractor and son of an influential Salafist preacher now living in Saudi Arabia, was arrested in 2009 on charges of weapons possession and placed in prison.

Though Russia has insisted Islamic State is the target of its strikes, forces opposed to President Bashar al-Assad have been repeatedly hit.

The death of Alloush, 44, was confirmed by the head of Syria’s opposition National Coalition, who posted a message of condolence. The efforts are part of a broader objective to improve Mr Assad’s standing among Western governments, which despise him but also see the Islamic State as an increasing menace. While promoting a more moderate form of Islam, he was accused of cracking down on dissidents in areas he controlled; scores of jihadists were either driven out or arrested by his forces.

“Alloush’s martyrdom should be a turning point in the history of the revolution and rebel groups should realise they are facing an war of extermination and uprooting by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s regime”, said Labib al Nahhas, a senior figure in the main Ahrar al-Sham rebel group. Men and women were put in large metal cages on pick-up trucks that drove around Damascus suburbs. He had led rebel operations against pro-Assad army in Damascus and its countryside for almost three years after deserting the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and establishing his own rebel group.

According to the sources, the attack targeted the group’s headquarters in Marca al-Sultan neighborhood. He also praised countries that have taken in refugees.

He said the group will now need time before re-operating as it has become “without a head”.