DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has lost another close relative in the war against US backed rebels operating in the Arab country.
Reports emerged Saturday that Mohammad Tawfiq al-Assad, a cousin of Bashar’s, was killed in fighting with the terrorists in the northwestern city of Latakia.
Reports said Tawfiq, an influential relative of Assad, was killed after suffering injuries in the fighting. He also suffered injuries in 2012 in the fight against the militants.
Known as “Sheikh al-Jabal” or “Lord of the Mountain, Tawfiq was believed to be in his late forties and was regarded as a major leader of the anti-Takfiri fight in Syria.
The Syrian president has lost many close relatives since a militancy broke out against his legitimate rule in 2011. General Assef Shawkat , Assads brother-in-law and a senior official in the countrys Defense Ministry, was killed in July 2012 in an attack in Damascus.