Meanwhile, Syrian troops backed by Hezbollah and Iranian fighters launched an offensive south of Aleppo today, expanding their counter-attack against rebels across western Syria with support from Russian air strikes.
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According to reports, al-Charekh was a member of the Khorasan group, a secret group of al-Qaeda sent from Pakistan to Syria in order to plot attacks against the West, according to us officials. A U.S.-led coalition has been targeting the Nusra Front and the Islamic State group for more than a year.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it has documented the deaths of 250,124 people, including at least 74,426 civilians.
The Observatory said two other senior Nusra figures going by the names of Abu Yasser al-Maghrebi and Abu Mohammed al-Jazrawi were also killed in the strike.
Al-Charekh, the alleged leader of Al Qaeda’s operations in Syria, was one of six men on which the UN Security Council imposed sanctions previous year. The list, issued in 2009, includes 83 Saudis and two Yemenis.
His death came three months after the United States killed top al-Qaida official Muhsin al-Fadhli. “We are now seeing a coordinated effort between Iran and Russian Federation to assist Assad with fighting opposition groups”, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate is led by Abu Muhammed al-Golani.
He was 49th on a list of 85 most-wanted militants by Saudi Arabia who are outside the kingdom.
The Syrian conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011 before spiraling into a multi-front war across the country after a brutal regime crackdown.
The Observatory said it wasn’t clear whether the air raid was carried out by Russian Federation or the United States.
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“One of the targets was a building on the outskirts of the town of Salma in the coastal province of Latakia”, Russian Maj.
