Hassan Abboud (), also known under his ''

nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...

'' Abu Abdullah al-Hamawi, was a Syrian militant and political leader who was one of the founders of

Ahrar al-Sham Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya (), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, was a coalition of multiple Sunni Islamist units that coalesced into a single brigade and later a division in order to fight against the Syrian Government led by Bas ...

. He was part of its leadership until his death in September 2014.

Biography

He was born in 1979 in Hama. He was imprisoned in

Sednaya Prison Sednaya Prison (), also known as "Human Slaughterhouse" (), was a military prison and death camp in the north of Damascus, Syria, operated by Ba'athist Syria, Ba'athist Syria. Those imprisoned included civilian detainees, Armed factions in the ...

for four years between 2007 and 2011 until he was released as part of an amnesty following the commencement of uprisings in Syria. He served as the head of the political council in the rebel union Islamic Front. German periodical ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

'' describes him as "one of the most important heads of the Syrian opposition against the government in Damascus". In December 2013, he gave an interview to Al Jazeera's Sami Zeidan, in which he discussed his organisation's objectives and Syria's future. He stated that his group's ultimate aim was to establish an Islamic state in Syria, which represented the long suppressed aspiration of the Syrian people. Concerning the Geneva peace talks he stated that it did not represent his group, which had not participated therein, and that they viewed it as a plot to derail the Syrian Revolution from its objectives.

Death

On 9 September 2014 he was killed along with 45 other rebel leaders in a bomb attack that targeted a secret meeting in an underground hideaway in Ram Hamdan, rural Northern Idlib. There are controversies around the nature and the perpetrators of the attack. Based on witnesses of the dead corpses, a sophisticated gas attack is suggested. Whereas some people mention a suicide bomber. The

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

(IS) has been forwarded responsible for the attack; however, some circles suggest the involvement of the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. Others have speculated that his death may have been an accident in a weapons workshop in the complex he was in, or possible involvement from Western intelligence agencies, or that the attack was carried out by a rebel rival of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aboud, Hassan People of the Syrian civil war 2014 deaths People from Hama 1979 births