Top leader of Islamic Front group and others killed in suicide attack in Syria

In a pair of suicide bombings in the town of Idlib, Abu Salqeen, the leader of Ahrar al-Sham, and six other members were killed including senior figures. Other top figures were among those killed.

+ Add Image

Ahrar al-Sham is the most powerful group in the umbrella organization the Islamic Front. The latter is composed of Islamists who reject the western demand for a secular state in Syria and intend to create a state based upon Sharia law. The Islamic Front is widely regarded as funded by rich individuals in Saudi Arabia and perhaps even by the state. The members are conservative Islamists, many of the Salafist orientation that is very much like the official Saudi version of Islam. Ahrar al-Sham co-ordinates with other groups in the fight against Assad and also the Islamic State. Some of its members have been linked to Al Qaeda, although the official Al Qaeda group in Syria is the Nusra Front. The relations of Ahrar al-Sham with the Nusra front has varied from cooperation to conflict. Al-Sham is said to be partially funded by wealthy donors in Kuwait.

Even though Ahrar al-Sham is composed of conservative Islamists and the Islamic Front is not part of the overall western-supported military structure in Syria, there have been recent attempts for al Sham to rebrand itself along with the rest of the Islamic Front as "moderate." The move is intended to allow the group to receive aid from the U.S. Given the challenge of the Islamic State and the relative lack of moderates with any significant power in Syria, the U.S. has itself been rethinking who they will consider a moderate. James Clapper, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, recently said:" Moderate these days is increasingly becoming anyone who is not affiliated with ISIL." While the U.S. has not itself yet provided funding for Ahrar al-Sham, it has not complained when the Saudis and Turkey decided to fund radical Islamist groups in Syria. The Saudis and Turks appear to make defeating Assad a priority rather than defeating the Islamic State first, as seems to be the U.S. policy.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, although many suspect the Islamic State is the culprit. Lately, there has been disagreement with the Al Nusra Front as well. The attack comes shortly after a senior al-Sham member published an op-ed article in the Washington Post in which he denied the group espoused al-Qaeda ideology. He claimed the group is composed of moderate Islamists anxious to defeat the Islamic State.

Last September, there was also a devastating suicide attack on al-Sham that killed many of their leaders as well. A video of the attack is appended.

Suicide attack claims key Syrian rebel leader

Hassan Assoud who led the Ahrar al-Sham brigade was killed along with others at a meeting of members of the large umbrella organization the Islamic Front. The meeting was called to discuss strategy to fight the radical Islamic State.

The Islamic Front is a merger of seven different rebel groups formed on 22 November 2013. It is not part of the western-backed Free Syrian Army(FSA) but cooperates with it in fighting both Assad and ISIS now called the Islamic State. Ahmad Musa a member of the group's political bureau claimed that the Syrian people wanted a revolution "not politics and foreign agendas". Many believe the group is funded by Saudi Arabia.
 Ahrar al-Sham, which Assoud led, is one of the major groups of the Front with 10 to 20 thousand fighters as of July last year. In February of this year another top commander Abu al-Suri was assassinated in a suicide bombing. Other important figures were killed in the attack including two military field commanders and the head of the Iman brigade. The death toll in total was said to be between 20 to 45.
In a December interview with Al Jazeera, Assoud dismissed any idea of participating in the Geneva talks to broker peace that included the western-supported Syrian National Coalition. He said at the time: "We see Geneva as a tool of manipulation - to derail the Syrian revolution away from its goals and objectives ... Whatever outcome the conference may yield, will be binding on the Syrian National Coalition only.For us, we will continue to fight for our revolution until we restore our rights."
 The casualty figures from the attack vary as is often the case: The Edlib News Network said that over 40 people were killed, including four other leaders of Ahrar al-Sham. The Observatory said "tens" people were killed but did not provide a specific number. Differing casualty figures are routine immediately after attacks in Syria. The Observatory is the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in the UK.
Ahrar al-Sham has a very conservative interpretation of Islam along the lines of that prevalent in Saudi Arabia. However there are reports that funding has been drying up of late as some donors have become wary of promoting more radical jihadists for fear that they might return home to carry out jihad there against the government. Ahrar al-Sham blames the Islamic State that has adopted an even more extreme jihadist ideology for the suicide attack. The attack is a serious blow to the rebel opposition and is likely to weaken them further.