Syrian President’s Relative Shot Dead in Country's West

Mohammad Tawfiq al-Assad 'Shekh al-jabal', relative of Syrian President Bashar Assad, was killed with several head shots during an argument with a powerful person in al-Qerdaha area in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A relative of Syrian President Bashar Assad was assassinated in the country’s northwestern province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported Saturday.

“Mohammad Tawfiq al-Assad 'Shekh al-jabal' was killed with several head shots during an argument with a powerful person in al-Qerdaha area,” the UK-based monitor said in its statement posted on-line.

According to the SOHR, father of the killed Syrian was one of the president’s cousins. The name of the murderer is unknown.

Qerdaha, or Qardaha, is a village in Syria's northwestern Latakia Governorate.

Mohammad Assad is believed to be one of the main founders of the so-called shabiha militia in the 1980s, supportive of the Ba'ath Party of Syria, led by the Assad family.

Syrian opposition groups claimed that the shabiha were armed groups backing the Syrian government and accused the militia of smuggling.

Syria's anti-government uprising in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring has evolved into a civil war that has claimed the lives of some 200,000 people and displaced millions, according to UN estimates.