Senior Kuwaiti Commander of Nusra Front Killed in Syria 

Activists said Saturday that the Kuwaiti commander of an al-Qaida-linked group was killed while fighting government troops and Hizbullah fighters inside Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Abu Azzam al-Kuwaiti, a leader of the Nusra Front, was killed late Friday in fighting around the western town of Yabrud.

Amer al-Qalamouni, an activist in the area, and the Observatory said al-Kuwaiti was a key mediator for the release of a dozen nuns held by rebels earlier this week.

The nuns from the historic Christian town of Maalula -- where residents still speak the Aramaic language of Jesus Christ -- were freed unharmed in exchange for prisoners held by the regime after being abducted in December.

The militant's death came as Syrian forces and Hizbullah fighters advanced in Yabrud amid heavy fighting.

Yabrud is the last major rebel-held town in the mountainous Qalamoun region, where government forces have been waging an offensive for months to try to sever rebel supply lines across the porous border into Lebanon.