Beirut, Dec 26: Powerful Syrian rebel chief Zahran Alloush was killed in a regime air strike east of Damascus on Friday, dealing blows to both the nearly five-year uprising and a fragile peace process.
Alloush, 44, was the commander of the Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) movement, the predominant opposition faction in the Eastern Ghouta rebel bastion east of Damascus.
He and five other commanders were killed “in an air strike that targeted one of their meetings in Eastern Ghouta” on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Syrian government and its media regularly refers to Jaish al-Islam as “terrorists,” and state television did so again in the news alert announcing Alloush’s death.
In a statement carried by state television, Syria’s army command said it had conducted the “special operation” that killed Alloush as part of its “national mission.”
The jets launched two rounds of strikes on the meeting with four missiles each, the source said. At least 12 Jaish al-Islam members and seven from the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham group were killed.
Jaish al-Islam is the most prominent rebel faction in the Eastern Ghouta region, an opposition bastion east of the capital frequently bombarded by regime forces.
Backed by Riyadh, it recently took part in landmark opposition talks in Saudi Arabia.
It was known to have extremist views and to have supported the establishment of an Islamic state before recently moving towards a more moderate position.
