In Qatar desert, Syrian opposition mourns fallen commander

[World News Headlines -]

By Amena Bakr UMM AL-AMAD, Qatar (Reuters) - On a patch of desert far from Syria, dozens of men gathered under a white tent to commemorate Abdelqader Saleh, a renowned Syrian rebel commander who died this week from wounds after an air strike in Aleppo. The mourners, who included senior Syrian opposition members and relatives of Saleh, assembled on Tuesday evening in the empty expanses of Qatar, 20 km (13 miles) from the skyscraper-dotted skyline of the gas-exporting Gulf Arab state. Qatar has long armed and supplied Saleh's Islamist al-Tawhid brigades, one of the largest rebel units operating in the sprawling northern city of Aleppo and the surrounding region. Tawhid fighters, mostly from the countryside, led an assault on Aleppo in July 2012, capturing about half the city before a fightback by Assad's forces backed by intensive air strikes ushered in a bloody stalemate which still endures.

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