Police blame family disputes for Syrian man’s murder in Shafa Badran

AMMAN — Police on Sunday said revenge was the motive behind the shooting death of a Syrian national in Amman on Friday, giving no further information regarding the name, age and profession of the man. 

In a statement published on its website, the Public Security Department (PSD) said the evidence gathered proved that the Syrian man was shot dead in the Shafa Badran neighbourhood on Friday by two Syrian nationals for “family revenge”.

The PSD said there were disputes between the victim and the suspects’ families back in their village in Syria.

Local and international media outlets identified the murdered Syrian as Maher Rahhal, a rebel commander who headed the Liwa Al Mujahideen, a Free Syrian Army (FSA) brigade fighting the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In remarks to The Jordan Times on Saturday, Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani said there is no indication that the crime was a political assassination. “It was purely a criminal matter with no political implications.” 

The opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) condemned the killing of Rahhal in a statement posted on its official website, holding Assad’s government “responsible for this crime”.

The SNC called on the Jordanian government to launch a serious investigation and arrest those responsible for killing Rahhal.

The PSD said an investigation is still under way and police are searching for the perpetrators.

FSA sources said the rebel army has launched a probe into the shooting, claiming that initial results indicate that a rival FSA officer was behind the killing. 

Mohammed Al Quneitri, a member of the FSA intelligence bureau, said initial investigation has implicated one of Rahhal’s peers in the Hazmah brigade in southern Syria.

According to sources, Rahhal had fallen out with a leader of a rival brigade after his unit received funding and arms originally slated for other units based outside the village of Ikhil. 

“Unfortunately it seems that one of our own attempted to assassinate the revolution by arranging the killing of commander Maher,” claimed Quneitri.

“The initial motive appears to be money, greed and competition over weapons and power.”

According to a second FSA source, Rahhal had previously been accused of corruption by fellow commanders, charges which were later dropped by an internal court.