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  • 21:55

    Al-Qaeda leader in Syria town assassinated

    A local leader of Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate was assassinated by unknown gunmen on Wednesday, the latest in a string of killings of mostly hardline Islamist rebels, AFP reports.

    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Iyad al-Adl, "emir" for the town of Ariha in northwestern Syria's Idlib province, was shot dead along with a second member of Al-Nusra Front.

    The Britain-based monitor said unidentified gunmen opened fire on the car in which the men were driving in a western neighborhood of Ariha.

    The assassination is the latest in a series of targeted killings of senior Islamist rebels, including from the Al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra and its ally Ahrar al-Sham.

    Analysts say the killings could be the work of the regime or ISIS, which considers all factions that have not pledged allegiance to it to be its rivals.