Abu Nabil al-Anbari

Abu Nabil al-Anbari
Born1972 (1972)
Al-Anbar, Iraq
Died13 November 2015(2015-11-13) (aged 42–43)
Derna, Libya
Cause of death
Airstrike
Other namesAbu Nabil al-Anbari, Abul Mughirah al-Qahtani, Abu Yazan al-Humairi, Abu Hamam
OrganizationIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Known forFormer Emir of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Libya

Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi, better known by his noms de guerre Abu Nabil al-Anbari (Arabic: أبو نبيل الأنباري, romanized: ʾAbū Nabīl al-ʾAnbārī), Abul Mughirah al-Qahtani (Arabic: أبو المغيرة القحطاني, romanized: ʾAbū al-Mughīrah al-Qaḥtānī)[1] was a commander in the Islamic State and the leader of its Libyan branch. Al-Anbari was killed by a US military airstrike on 13 November 2015.[2][3][4][5]

History

Abu Nabil al-Anbari was born in 1972. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, He formed a small group in city of Fallujah and took part in the Iraqi insurgency, with his group later joining Jamaat at-Tawhid wal-Jihad and later partaking in the First Battle of Fallujah. During this time, he was a companion of Abu Hamza al-Muhajir. He later traveled to Saudi Arabia on behalf of the group as an envoy to the al-Qaeda, and while he was there, the Second Battle of Fallujah erupted, in which he did not participate in. Upon returning to Iraq following the battle, he was captured by U.S. forces. Abu Nabil spent time in detention in Abu Ghraib prison before being released after a year and a half, upon which he returned to armed militancy. Following his release in 2006, he was appointed as head of security operations in Fallujah under the alias Abu Haqqi. During an assassination attempt against an Iraqi loyalist, he sustained a gunshot wound to his shoulder.[6]

Not long after he was released, he was captured and imprisoned again in 2010. Transferred to Taji Prison facing execution, he used bribes to secure a transfer to Abu Ghraib Prison until he was freed by ISIL in an attack on Abu Ghraib prison and a mass prison break on 21 July 2013. [7][8] He would later serve as ISIL's "governor" of Salahuddin Governorate, responsible for the group's operations there, including the attack on the city of Samarra. As the governor of Salahuddin Governorate, he was responsible for overseeing the execution of up to 1,700 Shia Iraqi Air Force cadets in the Camp Speicher massacre. In 2014, ISIL's leadership dispatched him from Iraq to Libya as part of a delegation to gather pledges of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from local militants and lead the nascent ISIL branch in the country.[9]

Death

Al-Anbari was killed in a US airstrike outside of Derna, Libya on 13 November 2015.[4] The Libya Herald reported local claims that al-Anbari had not been killed in the airstrike,[10] however a eulogy to Abu Nabil al-Anbari was published online by a member of ISIL some weeks later.[11] In a statement following the strike, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said "Abu Nabil's death will degrade [ISIL's] ability to meet the group's objectives in Libya, including recruiting new members, establishing bases in Libya, and planning external attacks on the United States."[12] He added: "Reporting suggests [he] may also have been the spokesman in the February 2015 Coptic Christian execution video," referring to a video which showed the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya after their kidnapping in 2015.[3] His killing was the first military action by the United States against an ISIL target outside of Iraq and Syria while still connected to the organization's core leadership (other militants struck in countries like Nigeria and Afghanistan are not believed by US officials to be directly linked to the Iraq and Syria based leadership).[3][13]

In January 2016, ISIL confirmed al-Anbari's death and launched a series of attacks and bombings across Libya named "the battle of Abul al-Mughirah al-Qahtani" in his honour.[14][15] Al-Anbari was succeeded as leader of ISIL in Libya by Abdul Qader al-Najdi.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Eulogy to Abu Nabil al-Anbari: Islamic State leader in Libya". International Business Times. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016. Abul-Mughirah al-Qahtani, also known as Abu Nabil al Anbari, a senior Iraqi commander who was killed US air strikes in November 2015
  2. ↑ "Statement from Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook on Nov. 13 airstrike in Libya > U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE > News Release View". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Ryan, Missy (14 November 2015). "U.S. officials: Chief of Islamic State in Libya thought to be killed in airstrike". The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  4. 1 2 Pengelly, Martin (14 November 2015). "Islamic State leader in Libya 'killed in US airstrike'". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Masi, Alessandria (8 December 2015). "Russian, European Airstrikes Against ISIS Are Fanning Out The Caliphate To North Africa". International Business Times. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  6. ↑ Zelin, Aaron Y. (29 March 2016). "New issue of The Islamic State's newsletter: "al-Nabā' #24"" (PDF). jihadology.net. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  7. ↑ Al-Tamimi, Aymenn Jawad (7 January 2016). "Eulogy to Abu Nabil al-Anbari: Islamic State leader in Libya". Pundicity. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  8. ↑ Faucon, Benoît; Bradley, Matt (17 February 2015). "Islamic State Gained Strength in Libya by Co-Opting Local Jihadists". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 March 2015.(subscription required)
  9. ↑ Cruickshank, Paul; Robertson, Nic; Lister, Tim; Karadsheh, Jomana (18 November 2014). "ISIS comes to Libya". CNN. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  10. ↑ "Abu Nabil Al-Anbari "not killed" in US Derna attack: report". Libya Herald. 15 November 2015. Archived from the original on 2 September 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  11. ↑ Al-Tamimi, Aymenn Jawad (7 January 2016). "Eulogy to Abu Nabil al-Anbari: Islamic State leader in Libya". Middle East Forum. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "U.S. Airstrike Targets Senior ISIL Leader in Libya". United States Department of Defense. 14 November 2015. Archived from the original on 12 July 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  13. ↑ Youssef, Nancy A.; Brannen, Kate (14 November 2015). "Exclusive: U.S. Targets ISIS in Libya Airstrike". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  14. ↑ Joscelyn, Thomas (4 January 2016). "Islamic State's Libyan 'province' launches new offensive". Long War Journal. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  15. ↑ "Islamic State claims Libyan police center bombing". reuters.com. 8 January 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  16. ↑ "New Islamic State leader in Libya says group 'stronger every day'". Reuters. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.