Sydney gang war has claimed three lives and threatens to rage on

WHEN Hamad Asaad was gunned down in his Sydney driveway this week, it was the third bloody murder in a gang war that started with a hail of bullets and a dead body six months ago.

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A FULL scale gang war is raging on the streets of Western Sydney with three men already dead and another missing, possibly murdered.

The current wave of violence began in a hail of bullets outside a Condell Park smash repair shop in early April, two warring Middle Eastern gangs shooting at each other from either side of a street in an industrial estate.

When the shooting eventually subsided Safwan Charbaji, 32, was dead and Abdullah El Masri, 35, was left fighting for life after being shot in the face.

Police search the scene of the Condell Park shooting in April.

Safwan Charbaji was killed in the Condell Park shooting. Picture: Supplied

The A-Team smash repairs where the shootout took place.

There were no ambulances called to the street outside the smash repair business, the men instead rushed to nearby Bankstown Hospital by those at the scene.

When police arrived at the hospital they saw Charbaji dead inside a car and bullets strewn in and around the vehicle.

The two panicked men who drove their dying friend, Mohammed Alameddine, 26 and another unnamed man, were charged with withholding information on the shootout.

An unpaid debt is one of the theories behind what started the bloody battle and convicted killer Walid ‘Wally’ Ahmad, a Mr Big of Sydney crime, was a main suspect.

The victims were taken to hospital by others at the scene.

Bullets were found inside and around the car.

Ahmed, who owned the smash repair shop, was convicted of manslaughter for the 2002 shooting death of Mayez Danny at a Greenacre wrecking yard.

But weeks after the Condell Park shooting, Ahmad himself was dead, gunned down in the carpark of Bankstown Central shopping centre after being ambushed by an assailant in a hoodie.

Two others were injured in the brazen attack and it was immediately thought the hit was in retaliation for Charbaji’s murder earlier that month.

But another theory also emerged.

Walid Ahmad was shot dead at Bankstown Central shopping centre.

Walid Ahmad was gunned down in broad daylight. Picture: Seven News

The hit was captured on CCTV at the shopping centre.

A burnt out Mercedes was found in a street near the centre.

Some police sources believed a third gang may have capitalised on the escalating feud between the two groups and orchestrated the hit on Ahmad.

One of the major suspects in Ahmad’s shooting was hitman Hamad Asaad, known in underworld circles as ‘H’.

Asaad, 29, is behind the attempted murders of some of Sydney’s most feared criminals and their relatives, including convicted killer Michael Ibrahim and the aunt of one of Australia’s most feared criminals, Bassam Hamzy.

But the hired gun’s run of terror came to an end on Tuesday when he was gunned down on his Georges Hall driveway in front of his 12-year-old nephew.

Hamad Asaad was gunned down in Georges Hall driveway on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old was a hired gun involved in a number of underworld shootings.

A man, believed to be the victim’s brother, is comforted by friends at the scene.

Police at the scene talking as Asaad’s distraught mother sits nearby.

A number of men are believed to have jumped out of a black Audi and shot Asaad before speeding off at about 9.20am.

An insider told The Daily Telegraph that Asaad had been bragging about being Ahmad’s assassin and this may have angered those who had organised the hit.

The latest shooting is just another chapter in a gang war that police fear will continue to bring bursts of violence and death to the streets of Western Sydney.