Top Syrian rebel leader killed in air strike

(Spencer Reports)The commander of one of the most effective rebel forces battling Syria's government has been killed in an air strike, a monitoring group and Syrian state media reported Friday.

Zahran Alloush, general commander of Jaysh al-Islam, was killed in eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, his rebels group confirmed.

The group made Abu Homam Essam al-Boudani the new commander, Jaysh al-Islam announced in a video message.

Zahran Alloush, left, reportedly died in an air strike near Damascus

Alloush and four senior-level officers were killed Thursday when their high-level meeting was bombed by warplanes, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It is unclear whether the Syrian military or Russian planes carried out the strike, the group said. Syria's state-run news agency, SANA, reported it was a Syrian special operation and aired aerial footage it said was from the strike.

Syria's state-run news agency praised the 44-year-old's death, saying "the terrorist Alloush was killed during air raids on terror dens."

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The military chief was a jailed Salafi activist, who after his release from prison in 2011 established a rebel battalion to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad.