Russia says one of its air strikes in Syria has critically injured the leader of an al-Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance and 12 of his field commanders.
The defence ministry cited its sources as confirming that Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani lost limbs in the attack in the north province of Idlib on Tuesday.
The strike came after Russia’s military learnt where Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) commanders were due to meet, it added.
There was no immediate comment from jihadist sources on the Russian claim.
However, a HTS-linked news outlet reported on Tuesday that Russian air strikes had targeted Abu al-Zuhur airport and later the Abu al-Zuhur court in Idlib.
It said three people were killed and others injured in the bombing of the court.
Russia said in July that it might have killed the leader of the rival jihadist group Islamic State (IS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. But there was no confirmation from IS.
As a result of the air strike, Jawlani sustained “a number of serious shrapnel wounds and lost limbs” and was in a critical condition, the ministry added, citing “several independent sources”.
Twelve HTS field commanders – including Akhmad al-Gizan, the head of Jawlani’s security service – were “eliminated”, along with about 50 guards, it added.
The US has offered a reward of up to $10m (£7.5m) for information on Jawlani, a Syrian national who founded al-Nusra Front in 2011 with the help of what was then known as Islamic State in Iraq (ISI).
In 2016, Jawlani declared that al-Nusra had broken off formal ties with al-Qaeda and said it was changing its name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. However, the attempt to distance the group from al-Qaeda failed to convince the international community.
Then at the start of this year, the group announced that it had merged with four smaller factions to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Liberation of the Levant Organisation).
Jawlani was initially named the new alliance’s “general military commander” rather than its leader. That position went to former Ahrar al-Sham leader Hashim al-Sheikh, also known as Abu Jabir.
