Turkish officials confirm FSA commander Asaad transferred to Turkey after blast

Source  :  MIDEAST

Colonel Riad al-Asaad, the founder of the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was wounded by an explosion in Syria overnight and is in Turkey for treatment, a Turkish official said on Monday, Reuters has reported.

One of Asaad's legs was severed as a result of the blast but his injuries were not life threatening, the official told Reuters. Syrian opposition sources said Asaad had been hit by a car bomb in the city of al- Mayadin, south of Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman had no information on Asaad's wounds, but a relative of the commander, speaking to AFP, said he had been transferred to Turkey for treatment after the blast, AFP has reported.

"An explosive device exploded last night near the car carrying Free Syrian Army commander Riad Asaad, who was conducting a tour of the town of Mayadeen in Deir Ezzor province," Rahman told AFP.

Asaad was one of the first officers to defect from the Syrian state military to the rebel forces, joining their ranks in 2011, not long after the uprising began.

He served as commander of the rebel forces but has seen his official role diminished by the creation of a rebel military command headed by Brigadier General Salim Idriss.

Asaad has remained a prominent figure though, regularly appearing with rebel fighters on the groun