Senior Nusra Front Commander Killed in Syria Airstrike

The Syrian al-Qaida affiliate branch, Jabhat al-Nusra, confirmed on Thursday the death of its top military commander, during a regime attack on a meeting of the group commanders in Idlib, Reuters reports. Airstrikes by Syrian government forces killed Abu Humam al-Shami, who held the title of general military commander for Jabhat al-Nusra, the group and state media reported.

Details of the attack are unclear. According to the Syrian state news agency SANA, Shami was killed in a special operation in Idlib province on Thursday.

Insurgent sources said that a U.S.-led coalition airstrike hit the meeting in Idlib. However, a coalition spokesmen responded that it had not conducted airstrikes in the province during the past 24 hours.

Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said, “We cannot confirm press reports of the deaths of senior al-Nusra leaders near the province of Idlib.” He added, “Neither the U.S. or the coalition have conducted airstrikes near that location in recent days.”

But on Thursday, insurgents said Shami had been killed earlier that day when he was in a meeting with other senior members of Jabhat al-Nusra.

The news comes after an attack by Jabhat al-Nusra on the intelligence headquarters of Syria’s air force in Aleppo, in which dozens of Syrian security personnel, including members of the air force intelligence, pro-government militiamen, Hezbollah fighters and rebels, were killed.

The building has been a key target for rebels since the battle for Aleppo began over two years ago.

Jabhat al-Nusra has also launched offensives on Western-backed groups this year, seizing their territory in an attempt to consolidate the group’s power in northern Syria and “pave way for the new group.”

Now, its leaders are reportedly considering severing ties with al-Qaida to establish a purely Syrian entity with the support of Gulf states trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

U.N. Expected to Vote on U.S. Draft Resolution Condemning Use of Chlorine in Syria

The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote Friday on a U.S.-drafted resolution condemning the use of toxic chemicals such as chlorine in Syria and to threaten to take action if such arms are used again, AP reports.

While the fact-finding mission of the world’s chemical weapons watchdog concluded with a “high degree of confidence” that chlorine was used on three villages in Syria last year, the draft does not apportion blame for previous chlorine attacks in Syria.

It “condemns in the strongest terms any use of any toxic chemical, such as chlorine, as a weapon in the Syrian Arab Republic.”

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has found evidence that chlorine gas was “systematically and repeatedly” used as a weapon in Syria. Council members such as France, Britain and the United States have accused the Syrian government of the attacks, pointing out that OPCW reports have linked the attacks to the use of helicopters and that only Syria’s government has helicopters.

The draft resolution “stresses that those individuals responsible for any use of chemicals as weapons, including chlorine or any other toxic chemical, must be held accountable.”

Syria joined the OPCW in 2013 and agreed to destroy its entire chemical weapon stockpile after hundreds of people were killed in a sarin gas attack in eastern Ghouta.

Since then, its 1,300-ton chemical weapon stockpile has been destroyed, though some council members worry that the Syrian government did not declare everything it held.

Russia to Hold Syria Peace Talks in April

Russia said Thursday it would host talks between representatives of President Assad’s regime and opposition members this April, following a meeting three months ago that failed to produce any concrete results, AFP reports.

“Representatives from a larger section of the Syrian opposition,” are expected to take part in the talks, said Alexander Lukashevich, Russia’s spokesman for the foreign ministry.

Russian deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov said that the U.N. Syria Peace Envoy would attend the talks and that the exiled opposition Syrian National Coalition were “considering coming to Moscow” for the meeting. Russia, a staunch ally of Assad, has been trying to relaunch peace talks between the regime and the opposition in a bid to end the conflict. It hosted a meeting in January.

“In January this year discussions between around 30 opposition members – from groups tolerated by Damascus authorities – and representatives of Assad’s regime, were described as an ‘initial, consultative meeting’ by the head of the government delegation Bashar al-Jaafari,” AP reports. Previous peace talks held in Geneva almost a year ago failed to produce results or ongoing momentum. Opposition leaders demanded Assad’s departure, while the regime insisted that the focus of the negotiation should be on countering “terrorism” – its term for armed resistance to its rule.

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Photo Courtesy of AP Images