Canadian Killed Fighting along Al-Nusra Front in Syria

Local Editor

A Canadian citizen has been killed while fighting in Syria, Canadian media said Wednesday.

Mustafa al-Gharib, 22, was executed by the so-called Free Syrian Army forces amid armed groups infighting, after being injured in battle and captured by an unknown "FSA" faction in the city of Aleppo, Canada's public broadcaster reported.
Citing unnamed sources in Syria and Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [CBC] said the man had joined al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda-affiliated group consisting of largely foreign fighters.

A Canadian Foreign Affairs Department spokesman told Agence France Presse: "We are aware of reports that Canadians have been killed in Syria. We are following the situation closely."

Meanwhile, Twitter messages from an unconfirmed source purporting to have been close to al-Gharib announced that the young man had been "executed by FSA" and that "he was killed while defending himself and his brothers from the FSA onslaught in Aleppo."

Born Damian Clairmont in Canada's Atlantic coast province Nova Scotia, al-Gharib moved with his Acadian family to Calgary in Western Canada at a young age.
After his parents split up, he reportedly dropped out of school and tried to kill himself by drinking antifreeze before leaving for Syria in late 2012.

The daily National Post cited his mother as saying Canada's spy service had been investigating al-Gharib. She said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service informed her that they suspected he went to Syria, after telling her he was going to Egypt to study Arabic.

The CBC said more than 100 Canadian nationals may be fighting in Syria.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told reporters that al-Gharib's death did not "come as a surprise" and that "there is probably more than one Canadian that is fighting with the opposition."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team