Syria: Abdul-Qadir Saleh, top rebel leader of Al-Tawhid Brigade, dies after a shelling
The leader of one of Syria’s most prominent rebel units died early Monday of shrapnel wounds sustained during shelling by government troops last week, his group said.
The death of Abdul-Qadir Saleh, founder of the Tawhid Brigade, was another blow to the rebels, reeling from a series of recent battlefield losses to President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces.
Government troops have made headway against the rebels on two key fronts, capturing a string of opposition-held suburbs south of Damascus and taking two towns and a military base outside the northern city of Aleppo.
The Tawhid Brigade is one of Syria’s better-known and stronger rebel groups, with an estimated 10,000 fighters. It’s one of the main rebel groups in Aleppo province. Under Saleh’s command, the group last year pushed into the provincial capital, Aleppo, seizing large sections of the city for the rebels.