Radical Syria group’s commander gunned down, wife wounded

Syrian activists and an official with an ultraconservative rebel group say gunmen have shot and killed the group’s commander the main central province.
Labib Al-Nahhas of Syria’s Ahrar Al-Sham rebel group mourned on his Twitter account late on Tuesday the death of Abu Rateb Al-Homsy, the group’s leader in Homs province. It was not clear when Al-Homsy was killed.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Al-Homsy was shot while in a car with his wife in the village of Farhaniyeh. She was wounded in the attack.
Several local commanders of insurgent groups have been assassinated over the past weeks in Homs. No one has claimed responsibility for the killings.
Ahrar Al-Sham is one of the most powerful rebel groups and is active in different parts of Syria.
Meanwhile, Iraqi officials say the Daesh group has stepped up attacks on the western town of Haditha, where 45 Iraqi security forces and Sunni tribal fighters have been killed in clashes over the past three days.
Khalid Salman, a provincial councilman from Haditha, said Wednesday that another 30 pro-government fighters have been wounded. Shaalan Al-Nimrawi, a local tribal sheikh, confirmed the casualty figures.
The Daesh attacks on Haditha come a week after Iraqi forces backed by US-led airstrikes pushed the extremists out of central Ramadi, the capital of the sprawling Anbar province, which includes Haditha.
Coalition spokesman Col. Steve Warren said Tuesday that Daesg has lost 40 percent of its territory in Iraq and 20 percent in Syria since the airstrikes began in 2014.
Source :Arab News