Fight between Syria Armed Groups: Al-Qaeda Kills FSA Leader, Latter to Retaliate

Local Editor

The Syria armed groups are continuing to turn on one another.

In a new incident, Syrian armed groups linked to al-Qaeda killed a senior figure in the so-called "Free Syrian Army" on Thursday, an FSA source revealed.

Kamal Hamami, a member of the FSA's Supreme Military Council, known by his nom de guerre Abu Bassel al-Ladkani, was meeting with members of the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" in the port city of Latakia when they killed him, Qassem Saadeddine, a FSA spokesman, told the news agency.
"The "Islamic State" phoned me saying that they killed Abu Bassel and that they will kill all of the Supreme Military Council," Saadeddine said from Syria.
"He met them to discuss battle plans," Saadeddine added.

Reports earlier this week indicated that local infighting between the armed groups has begun in Syria.

Meanwhile, the FSA and other group commanders pledged to retaliate.
"We are going to wipe the floor with them. We will not let them get away with it because they want to target us," a senior rebel commander said on condition of anonymity.
He said the al-Qaeda-linked militants had warned FSA rebels that there was "no place" for them where Hamami was killed in Latakia province,.
Other opposition sources said the killing followed a dispute between Hamami's forces and the so-called "Islamic State" over control of a strategic checkpoint in Latakia and would lead to fighting.

In parallel, the Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict, said the "FSA" and the "Islamic State" have had violent exchanges in several areas of Syria over the past few weeks, showing growing antagonism between the armed groups
"Last Friday, the "Islamic State" killed an FSA rebel in Idlib province and cut his head off. There have been attacks in many provinces," the Observatory's leader Rami Abdelrahman said.

Two of Hamami's men were wounded in Thursday's attack, he said by telephone.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team