--- description: Hassan Abboud was the leader of Ahrar al-Sham, one of seven Syrian Islamist rebel groups in the anti-Assad Islamic Front. title: Syrian Islamist Rebel Leader Hassan Aboud Killed image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Syria](/tag/syria/) ## Syria Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Syrian Islamist Leader Killed in Blast by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 10, 2014 3:38 AM CUT by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 10, 2014 3:38 AM CUT The leader of one of the largest rebel groups fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government [was killed](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29135922 "undefined") by a suicide bomber on Tuesday, the BBC reports. Hassan Abboud, the head of Syrian Islamist insurgent group Ahrar al-Sham, perished in the attack along with his top commanders in the town of Ram Hamdan, the BBC says. Activist groups say the total death toll in the blast was around 40, although exact numbers are still unclear. Ahrar al-Sham is part of a coalition of seven Syrian rebel groups called the Islamic Front. The group is opposed to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), which Abboud called “the worst image ever of Islam” in an interview earlier this year. ISIS has been blamed for previous suicide attacks on Ahrar al-Sham members. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29135922 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3315306/syrian-islamist-leader-hassan-aboud-ahrar-al-sham-killed-in-blast/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3315306/syrian-islamist-leader-hassan-aboud-ahrar-al-sham-killed-in-blast/"},"headline":"Syrian Islamist Leader Killed in Blast","datePublished":"2014-09-10T03:38:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:05:56.085Z","description":"Unconfirmed reports put the total death toll around 40","url":"https://time.com/3315306/syrian-islamist-leader-hassan-aboud-ahrar-al-sham-killed-in-blast/","keywords":["Syria","ISIS"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/syria/","name":"Syria"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3315306/syrian-islamist-leader-hassan-aboud-ahrar-al-sham-killed-in-blast/","name":"Syrian Islamist Leader Killed in Blast"}}]}] ```