From Madaya, near Damascus, Abu Firas worked with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in galvanizing support among Pakistani supporters of the fundamentalist Taliban movement in Afghanistan several decades ago, the rebel sources said. US officials announced on 4 April that a prominent leader of the al - Qaida - affiliated al - Nusra Front , Abu Firas al - Hassan , was killed in an airstrike in Syria . The senior leader of the al - Nusra Front ’s Shura Council was hit , along with a number of other militants during a strike on a high - level meeting of al - Qaida members in the north - west of the country . Abu Firas was once a Syrian army officer , who was later discharged because of his religious beliefs . He went on to found one of the militant groups that fought in Afghanistan during the 1980s , and worked alongside al - Qaida ’s founder , Osama bin Laden . Typically , the US has targeted ISIS in Syria , making this an unusual strike against the al - Nusra Front . It is unclear if Abu Firas was the target of the strike .
US officials announced on 4 April that a prominent leader of the al - Qaida - affiliated al - Nusra Front , Abu Firas al - Hassan , was killed in an airstrike in Syria . The senior leader of the al - Nusra Front ’s Shura Council was hit , along with a number of other militants during a strike on a high - level meeting of al - Qaida members in the north - west of the country . Abu Firas was once a Syrian army officer , who was later discharged because of his religious beliefs . He went on to found one of the militant groups that fought in Afghanistan during the 1980s , and worked alongside al - Qaida ’s founder , Osama bin Laden . Typically , the US has targeted ISIS in Syria , making this an unusual strike against the al - Nusra Front . It is unclear if Abu Firas was the target of the strike .