Idlib, al Nusra Front spokesman and 20 other Islamists killed by air strike

The victims include Abu Firas and his son as well as several foreign fighters. Uncertainty about the author of the attack, the Syrian air force or Russian forces. Targets of extremist movement Jund al-Aqsa also hit. The Alawite leaders distance themselves from Assad: Syria is not tied to a family but to democracy and rights.


 

Damascus (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The spokesman of the Nusra Front, a jihadist group active in Syria and linked to the al Qaeda network, is among the victims of an air strike yesterday in Idlib province, in the north of the country. Abu Firas al-Suri (and his son) died as well as 20 other fighters, according to sources for the London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Reportedly there are also foreign militants among the dead of the al Nusra Front. There are no confirmations about the authors of the air strike, whether it was the Syrian or the Russian air forces.

According to head of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, Abu Firas was killed while engaged in a summit with other prominent jihadists in the village of Kafar Jales.  Other targets of al Nusra Front and the Islamic extremist movement Jund al-Aqsa Mosque, which is also linked to the Front, were hit.

The war in Syria first broke out in March 2011 as a protest movement against President Bashar al-Assad, but it has since become a widespread conflict with Islamic extremist elements, causing over 260 thousand deaths. It has also given rise to one of the worst humanitarian crisis in history, forcing millions of Syrians to seek refuge abroad. Last month a truce signed by the government and rebels - from which the jihadists of the Islamic State and the Nusra Front were excluded - led to a decrease in deaths, particularly among civilians.

On the political front, this weekend brought an unusual move  by the Alawite sect leader, the same ethnic minority to which President Assad belongs, who distanced his group from the regime outlining his vision for the future of the nation. The community and its religious leaders hope to "turn on a light" after a long period of silence, in an "important moment" in the life of the country. The goal is to combat the "sectarianism" and promote the ideals of "equality, freedom and citizenship" in the interests of the secular state. Finally, the leadership of Syria is not linked to the Assad family, but "democratic principles and fundamental rights".

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