‘Spiritual father’ of Syria militants killed in Idlib infighting

Abu Abdulaziz al-Qatari, a militant commander known to be a ‘spiritual father’ to the Jund al-Sham militant group in Syria has died during clashes with another militant group, Al-Alam reports.
Syria militants have been fighting each other, mostly in north and west of Syria, which has left scores of them dead over conflicting interests.
Al-Alam correspondent in Syria, Hussein Murtadha, said on Tuesday that he has confirmed reports of al-Qatari having been killed during the recent clashes in Rif Idlib, in northwestern Syria.
He said al-Qatari who was referred as being one of the most dangerous Takfiri extremist in Syria, was killed during fighting with ‘Syria Martyrs Brigades’ militant group.
Some called al-Qatari the ‘Abdullah Azzam’ of Syria, Murtadha said.
Azzam was teacher and mentor of Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda terrorist group, and persuaded bin Laden to go to Afghanistan and help his armed insurgency.
Azzam’s trademark slogan was “Jihad and the rifle alone: no negotiations, no conferences and no dialogues.”
Abdullah al-Qatari who was a close companion to Azzam, was an Iraqi militant who fought alongside Taliban in Afghanistan.
He reportedly entered Syria at the ranks of al-Nusra Front, the main branch of al-Qaeda fighting in the Arab country.