Abu Humam al-Shami

Abu Humam al-Shami, (aka al-Suri, the Syrian), was the general military commander within the al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra Front. He served as the groups military chief.

Early life
Little is known about al-Shami. He is believed to be of Syrian origin.

He traveled to Afghanistan between 1998 and 1999 and was believed to be in the Ghuraba training camp, run by Abu Musab al-Suri, for a year. He later joined al-Qaeda's al-Farouq training camp before moving on to the airport camp for specialist training.

He pledged his allegiance to Osama Bin Laden and was placed in charge of Syrian jihadists in Afghanistan. He took part in al-Qaeda's battles at the time. Al-Shami was arrested and imprisoned in Lebanon for five years. After his release, he joined al-Qaeda in the Levant and become Nusra's military commander.

Syrian Civil War
Upon joining the Syrian-based al-Qaeda affiliate, al-Nusra Front, al-Shami became the groups overall military chief.

Relations with ISIL
In 2014, the al-Nusra Front was engaged in hostilities with the break away al-Qaeda faction, ISIL. Al-Shami was said to have spearheaded efforts in order to negotiate a ceasefire. He met with one of ISIL emir Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's chief deputies. Baghdadi’s deputy supposedly told al-Shami that either ISIL will annihilate everyone else, or ISIL itself will be annihilated. When al-Shami suggested that their differences could be settled in a common sharia court, Baghdadi’s deputy replied that they will bring their disagreements to a sharia court when the fight to the death is over.

The Al-Nusra Front finally brokered a ceasefire with ISIL when al-Shami met with Abu Omar al-Shishani, the Chechen ISIL leader. But the ceasefire agreement, which is shown during the video, was short-lived. Some ISIL leaders urged Shishani not to sign the agreement, al-Shami said, but Shishani entered into it. The deal required ISIL to stop fighting all of the other factions and to settle its disputes in a common sharia court. Before the deal could be ratified however, ISIL detonated a car bomb. The bombing presumably brought the peace process to a halt.

Death
On the 5th of March 2015, al-Shami was reported killed by Syrian state media in a Syrian army operation in Idlib province. His death had been confirmed by the al-Nusra Front.