Syrian Rebel Leader Killed in Turkey Car Bomb

A leader of a rebel group linked to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was killed in a car bomb attack in southern Turkey on Wednesday, according to Turkish officials.

Jamil Raadoun’s car exploded when he started it in front of his house in Antakya on Wednesday, and he later succumbed to his wounds in hospital, reports Al Jazeera English.

Raadoun was the leader of Suqur al-Ghab, a group that fights both the Syrian government and the Islamic State (ISIS). His killing may have been carried out by another opposition group, adds Al Jazeera.

Raadoun’s death marks the second such assassination of a key Syrian rebel leader to take place in the past two weeks. Abdullah Rifai, another Syrian opposition commander, was killed in front of his house in Arsal, Lebanon, earlier this month.

Hezbollah, Rebels Reach Another Cease-fire in Border Town

Rebel groups and Hezbollah have reached a new 48-hour cease-fire in a key town near the Lebanese border.

Since late July, the Lebanese militant group and Syrian government forces have faced off against rebels in Zabadani, a town that lies on the road connecting the Syrian capital to Lebanon. On its official television station, Al-Manar, Hezbollah claimed that it has “besieged” rebels in the town, according to the Associated Press.

The new cease-fire will allow rebel fighters to pass safely to a nearby town in exchange for the rebels permitting 1,500 residents of two Shia villages – Foua and Kafraya – to leave in order to obtain access to medical and humanitarian aid.

During intense fighting in three villages, a similar cease-fire was reached earlier this month. It collapsed due to disagreements over the terms between rebel groups, including Ahrar al-Sham, and Iranian mediators.

U.N. Lays Out Plan to Investigate Chemical Weapons Attacks

The United Nations will need the cooperation of the Syrian government and opposition forces alike in an investigation aimed at assigning the blame for chemical weapons attacks during the ongoing civil war, said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday.

The investigation will “identify to the greatest extent feasible individuals, entities, groups or governments who were perpetrators, organizers, sponsors or otherwise involved in the use of chemicals as weapons, including chlorine or any other toxic chemical,” the secretary-general said in a letter to the U.N. security council, reports Reuters.

The Syrian government agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 after the U.S. threatened to bomb Syria over sarin gas attacks that took place earlier that year. ISIS has also been accused of using mustard gas in an attack on the town of Marea.

Photo: A Syrian man pushes his bike past the destruction caused by government airstrikes in Douma (Associated Press)

Recommended Reads

• The Washington Post: The Iran Deal Helps Perpetuate Slaughter in Syria
• Al-Monitor: Has Syria’s Arab–Kurdish Rivalry Reached a Breaking Point?
• BBC: Syrian Conflict: The Lives of the Refugees Who Fled
• The Atlantic: Syria’s Children