Syrian lawyer that negotiated Raqa IS deal found dead

Alloush served both as a publicist for the SDF and as a liaison officer with the US-led coalition

BEIRUT - A prominent lawyer involved in a deal that saw some Islamic State jihadists given safe passage out of their Syrian bastion Raqa last year was found dead on Thursday, authorities said.
Omar Alloush helped negotiate an agreement with tribal leaders that allowed some IS fighters to leave Raqa before it was overrun by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces on October 17.
He was a senior member of the Raqa Civil Council, a provisional administration for the city set up by the SDF.
The Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main Kurdish party whose armed wing dominates the SDF, gave no details of the circumstances of Alloush's death.
"Omar Alloush was found dead at his home this morning," the PYD said on Twitter.
The SDF captured Raqa after a months-long campaign that saw them thrust south from their northern stronghold along the Turkish border with support from US-led air strikes and ground advisers.
Alloush served both as a publicist for the SDF and as a liaison officer with the US-led coalition.
Raqa was the scene of some of the jihadists' worst atrocities, including gruesome executions, public displays of corpses and sex slavery.