A Syrian rebel leader may have been killed in a Russian airstrike on a terrorist hideout after his forces seized Aleppo in a shock offensive, local media has reported. Abu Mohammad al-Julani, the current commander-in-chief of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Shamgroup, is understood to have been inside the building at the time of the attack.
Syrian newspaper Al-Watan reported that a tight security cordon has reportedly been place around the organisation's headquarters - but whether Al-Julani's has been killed or not is yet to be confirmed. It comes after President Assad 's forces warned in a statement on Saturday that they had redeployed and were planning a counterattack. Meanwhile, Israel is said to be preparing for a scenario where it would need to act if the situation deteriorates.
Intelligence chiefs have reportedly told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 'the collapse of the Assad regime would likely create chaos in which military threats against Israel would develop.
Al Qaeda-linked rebels advanced south towards Damascus on Saturday, a day after they captured Aleppo with little resistance from government troops. Abu Mohammad al-Julani pictured , the current commander-in-chief of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Shamgroup, may have been killed in an airstrike. The death of Al-Julani centre is yet to be confirmed but the strike has been reported in local media. An anti-government fighter tears down a portrait of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo, after jihadists and their allies entered the northern Syrian city, on November Syrian opposition fighters get on a motorcycle as opposition supporters stand on top of a captured army armoured vehicle in the town of Maarat al-Numan.
The insurgents seized Aleppo airport and dozens of nearby towns on Saturday after overrunning most of the city, a war monitor said.
