The top leader and founder of Jaish al-Islam Zahran Alloush was among those killed in the airstrike on Friday.
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His death comes a month before peace talks between the Syrian government and the opposition are scheduled to begin in Geneva.
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Zahran Alloush, the commander of the Jaysh al-Islam alliance was killed in a Damascus suburb. ISIS seized large elements of Yarmouk earlier this yr. Palestinian official in Damascus Anwar Abdulhadi told The Related Press on Sat.in that the withdrawal of the mainly ISIS militants from Yarmouk is being delayed for “logistical reasons”. The report could not be immediately confirmed by the AP.
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Melvin Gordon, a rookie running back, injured his knee but beyond that, not much is known to the public of his injury. But his performance was overshadowed by tears and sniffles as a team which has been in town since 1961 could exit.
Defense experts say the disarray among the rebel forces could also consolidate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s control over the rest of the area.
The Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Muallem, said on Thursday that Damascus was ready to take part in peace talks in Geneva and hoped that the dialogue would help it form a national unity government. The outlines for the peace negotiations specify that no group considered terrorists would be allowed take part.
United Nations special envoy Staffan de Mistura’s office said he has “intensified efforts” to convene talks on January 25, hopefully including the “broadest possible spectrum” of opposition representatives.
Several opposition groups also mourned Allouch’s death and accused the government and its allies of trying to eliminate rival groups ahead of the talks.
The Army of Islam quickly appointed Essam al-Buwaydhani, a field commander known as Abu Hammam, as its new leader. He was instantly killed along with a number of commanders from the Ahrar al-Sham and the Faylaq al-Rahman groups.
Other insurgent groups, including the al-Qaeda branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, lamented his killing.
Both the Assad government and its Russian allies consider the Army of Islam a sectarian terror group akin to the so-called Islamic State.
Zahran Alloush, who spoke at a wedding in July, led the Army of Islam insurgents in Syria.
“Add to that the fact that the Islam Army’s dominance has created so much resentment among other factions over the years, and the situation seems very unstable”, Lund wrote in an analysis for the popular Syria Comment blog.
The leader of the Jaysh al-Islam rebel group was killed Friday in an airstrike and the evacuation convoy was due to pass through the group’s territory.
Russian Federation has repeatedly targeted “moderate” and Islamist linked rebel groups across northern Syria, claiming to be only targeting ISIS positions.
If true, the death of Alloush, who is reportedly backed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, will be a major blow to the opposition. “Their political philosophy and blueprint for the future is largely based on a similar reading of Islamic history and the Qur’an”.
He is blamed by other opposition groups for the December 2013 disappearance of four prominent activists, including human rights activist and lawyer Razan Zaytouni. Regime-held districts of Damascus have been repeatedly exposed to bombardment by the rebels of al-Islam Army. The last such online public message said to be by Baghdadi was posted in May, and he has been reported injured or killed several times in fighting.
The Observatory said the warplanes struck a meeting during which Army of Islam commanders were preparing to launch an offensive against government forces and those of Lebanon’s Hezbollah near Damascus.
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The rebel sources said that in the raid Russian planes fired at least 10 missiles at a secret headquarters of the group, which is the largest rebel faction in the area and has about 15,000 to 20,000 fighters, according to Western intelligence. He cited a video in which he said Alloush calls for cleansing Damascus of all Shiites and “Nusayris” – an old term for the country’s Alawite minority, of which Assad is a member, now used as an insult.
