Damascus, Dec 13 (IANS): The son of an ex-commander of the rebels' Free Syrian Army (FSA) was killed by Syrian troops in the country's northern province of Aleppo, media reported Saturday.

Muhammad al-Asaad, the son of Riad al-Asaad, was killed by Syrian troops in Aleppo, Xinhua reported citing the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV, but giving no further details.

Riad al-Asaad was a former colonel in the Syrian Air Force. He defected in July 2011 and formed the FSA in the same month. The breakaway colonel went to the Turkish Hatay province, where he was under the protection of the Turkish Armed Forces.

In December 2012, Asaad was replaced by Brig. Gen. Salim Idris, another defector from the Syrian army. In March 2013, he survived a car bomb blast with an amputated leg in Syria's eastern province of Deir al-Zour.

The FSA enjoyed the backing of the Western powers, who floated this militant group as a "moderate" force that could be backed in the face of the radical rebels and the Syrian army alike.

However, the ranks of the FSA were hobbled with differences and divisions that led to its marginalisation in the landscape of the Syrian battles in favour of the ultra-radical groups like the Islamic State (IS) or the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday that clashes continued overnight between the Syrian troops and the Nusra Front in the northeastern rim of Aleppo.

Aleppo, once the economic hub of Syria, has seen the most ferocious battles between the rebels and the government troops.

The rebels have controlled almost half of the city and the majority of its countryside while the government troops are fighting to dislodge them from the city.