Free Syrian Army commander ‘flees’ from Syria

WASHINGTON

General Salim Idris, the commander of the Syrian opposition’s main military wing, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), has fled Syria, after Islamist rebels seized key bases and warehouses belonging to the Western-backed rebels.

Idris flew to Doha on Dec. 8 after fleeing to Turkey, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials. “He fled as a result of the Islamic Front taking over his headquarters,” a senior U.S. official was quoted by the daily as saying.

The Islamic Front, the largest Islamist rebel force in Syria, seized depots belonging to the FSA near the Turkish border last weekend, before taking control of the Bab al-Tawa crossing itself on Dec. 10, according to monitors. The seizure prompted the United States and Britain to suspend non-lethal aid to rebels in northern Syria.

Turkey also shut its side of the border in Hatay province after the Islamic Front seized the Bab al-Hawa post.