Friday, July 12, 2013

Syria's civil war within a civil war: Key Free Syria Army commander killed by rival jihadist group

Commander shot in the head by al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in attack that signals growing strife between rebel groups.
(BBC) Kamal Hamami, of the Free Syrian Army's (FSA) Supreme Military Council, was meeting members of the rival group "to discuss battle plans".

An FSA spokesman said he was told by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant that they had killed Mr Hamami. [...]

A spokesman for the FSA's Supreme Military Council said Mr Hamami had been driving through Latakia when he and fellow fighters encountered a checkpoint run by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - the main group linked to al-Qaeda.

The rebels manning the checkpoint had refused to let him pass, saying he would need to get permission from their leader, and he had told them they had to take their checkpoint down.

As the argument raged, according to this account, one of the fighters - said to be a foreign jihadi from Iraq - raised his weapon and shot Kamal Hamami dead.

"The Islamic State phoned me saying that they killed Abu Basir and that they will kill all of the Supreme Military Council," FSA spokesman Qassem Saadeddine told Reuters news agency.

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Ramadan death toll is now at 168.