Al-Nusra FrontCannibal al-Nusra commander killed by rival Islamist militia
Khaled al-Hamad, otherwise known as Abu Sakkar, a senior commander of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front who was filmed eating an organ of a dead Syrian government soldier, has been killed by gunmen near the Turkish border, al-Nusra has announced. Al-Hamad gained notoriety for the shocking video which surfaced in 2013, and which, for many, captured the brutality of the Syrian civil war. The cannibalism scene captured on video showed al-Hamad eating either the heart, lung, or liver of the dead soldier.
Khalid al-Hamed (l.)with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi HH General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.jpg // Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Khaled al-Hamad, otherwise known as Abu Sakkar, a senior commander of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front who was filmed eating an organ of a dead Syrian government soldier, has been killed by gunmen near the Turkish border, al-Nusra has announced.
Al-Hamad gained notoriety for the shocking video which surfaced in 2013, and which, for many, captured the brutality of the Syrian civil war.
The Telegraph reports that al-Hamad was killed on Tuesday in Harem, a small town near the border crossing of Bab al-Hawa in northern Syria.
Nusra circulated a message on social media which blamed its ally, the Salafist group Ahrar al-Sham, for killing al-Hamad.
Nusra’s message said he was tracked and ambushed by Ahrar fighters near a checkpoint in Harem.
The Telegraph notes that Nusra and Ahrar used to be closed allies in the Syrian war, fighting side by side as members of an anti-regime coalition called Jaysh al-Fateh, which was especially active in north-west Syria and which, last spring, ousted forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad from Idlib province.
The groups grew apart, though, as peace talks among the different factions in Syria progressed. Ahrar has pursued a more moderate stance, agreeing to take part in negotiations, but Nusra has rejected any talks unless Assad was forced to leave office first.
Reports from Idlib say that Ahrar has agreed to investigate the killing, and promised Nusra that the perpetrators, if found, would be brought before a court. Ahrar also agreed to remove some f its checkpoints from key intersections in the province.
The cannibalism scene captured on video showed al-Hamad eating either the heart, lung, or liver of the dead soldier.
In a subsequent video, which also emerged in 2013, al-Hamad said he was willing to be held accountable for his actions if the Assad regime would also be made to be held accountable for its crimes.
“They are killing children, raping women, burning corpses, torturing people,” he said in the video. “I don’t know what any free Syrian would do when faced with such scenes.”
