Members of al Qaeda’s Nusra Front gesture as they drive in a convoy touring villages, which they said they have seized control of from Syrian rebel factions, in the southern countryside of Idlib.

A former lieutenant of the late Al-Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, has been killed in fighting with pro-government militiamen in Syria, a monitor said Saturday.

“Abul Hassan al-Tunsi, an important leader of Al-Nusra Front, was killed in clashes Friday between Islamist rebels and pro-government militia around the Shiite villages of Fuaa and Kafraya in Idlib province,” said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Tunsi, who was in his 60s, arrived in Syria in 2012, Abdel Rahman said.

He was one of bin Laden’s “assistants and fought in Al-Qaeda’s ranks in Afghanistan and Iraq.”