Russian air strikes in Syria’s Latakia province killed a top commander of the so-called ’Free Syrian Army’ that is armed by foreign enemies of President Bashar al-Assad.

Russian air strikes in Syria's Latakia province killed a top commander of the so-called 'Free Syrian Army' that is armed by foreign enemies of President Bashar al-Assad, a monitoring group said on Tuesday.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 45 people were killed in the air strikes on Monday evening in the Jabal Akrad area, which is held by the First Coastal Division terrorist group.

FSA confirmed the death of its chief of staff, Basil Zamo, formerly a captain in the Syrian military.

The First Coastal Division is one of several groups that have received foreign military support under a program supported by the United States, including US-made anti-tank missiles, the most potent weapon in the arsenal of takfiri militias.

The commander of another such group, the Nour al Din al-Zinki Brigades, was killed in fighting south of Aleppo on Monday.

These groups, often led by officers who defected from the Syrian army after the violent unrest erupted in the country in 2011, have been dominated by takfiri groups such as the al-Nusra Front and the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL).