Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi
Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla
The reign of new Islamic State terror group leader Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi may be over, mere months after it began. The Turkish website OdaTV first reported the arrest of Abu al-Hassan on 26 May 2022, saying Turkish police captured him without firing a single bullet during a raid on a house in Istanbul a week earlier. The website further reported the IS leader was being questioned and that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to formally announce the arrest and share additional details in the coming days. Separately, two senior Turkish officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the arrest to Bloomberg News, adding that Erdogan has been informed. U.S. officials, however, remained cautious. "[We] can't confirm the reports about al-Qurashi," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters. "Obviously we've been looking at this all day, but we're just not in a position where we can actually confirm that press reporting."
IS named Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as the terror group's third leader in March 2022, saying he took over shortly after the death of his predecessor during a raid by U.S. special forces in northwestern Syria in February 2022. IS followers quickly lined up behind the new leader, with the terror group's media division sharing photos and videos of fighters from Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, Somalia, Afghanistan, the Philippines and elsewhere pledging their allegiance to Abu al-Hassan.
When ISIS’ new leader replaced Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , few knew anything about him. Despite becoming one of the world’s most influential terrorists, the only clues about his life came from a single eight-minute audio recording announcing his appointment. The man set to take over after the assassination of ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was named as al-Qurayshi, meaning he was a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who was of the Quraysh tribe.
Paul Cruickshank, a prominent scholar wrote at the time: “Nobody – and I mean nobody outside a likely very small circle within ISIS – have any idea who their new leader ‘Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi’ is.”
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi is a nom de guerre meant to indicate the new leader is a descendant of the Hashemite clan of the Qurashi tribe, which by bloodline would link him to Prophet Muhammed - an IS requirement for any would-be caliph.
Western counterintelligence officials had yet to form a firm consensus about who is really leading IS. There are, however, several theories. New Lines Magazine in February 2022 identified Bashar Khattab Ghazal al-Sumaidai as next in line to lead the terror group. "Known by numerous noms de guerre, including Ustath Zaid (Teacher or Professor Zaid), Abu Khattab al-Iraqi, Abu al-Moez al-Iraqi and Abu Ishaq, he returned to Syria from Turkey about a year ago," New Lines said, adding that al-Sumaidai had become increasingly popular in jihadist circles. But Iraqi and Western officials told Reuters in March 2022 that the new leader was actually Juma Awad al-Badri, the brother of former IS caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Others concluded that Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi is a nom de guerre for Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla. Declassified documents shed light on al-Mawla’s educational background and his rise to ISIS leader. They reveal al-Mawla joined ISIS’ predecessor organization, Islamic State in Iraq (ISI), in 2007 and quickly rose through its ranks during a period of conflict as American and Iraqi security forces sought to stop ISI from expanding.
The United States on 25 June 2020 doubled to $10 million its reward for the capture of ISIS leader Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawla, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced. The US had already offered $5 million for al-Mawla before he was identified as the successor to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed by US commandos in an October raid in Syria. “This reward is an important moment in our fight against ISIS and its branches and networks around the world. As ISIS is defeated on the battlefield, we are determined to identify and find the group’s leaders so that the global coalition of nations fighting to defeat ISIS can continue to destroy ISIS remnants and thwart its global ambitions,” said the US State Department in its statement.
Al-Mawla was born in the Iraqi city of Mosul to a Turkmen family, making him one of the few non-Arabs to ascend the ranks of ISIS group, which at its height ruled vast parts of Iraq and Syria and drew volunteers from the West. Born in 1976, al-Mawla, also known as Hajji Abdallah, is a scholar in Islamic law who issued edicts to justify the persecution of the Yazidi minority, a campaign that the United Nations has described as genocide. The terrorists killed thousands of Yazidis, and abducted and enslaved thousands more women and girls as they rampaged across the Middle East.
The published documents – Tactical Interrogation Reports (TIRs) – are records of what al-Mawla told American forces during his time in US custody beginning in January 2008. Al-Mawla told interrogators he crossed paths with other senior ISI members, that he served as a private in the Iraqi Army, and completed a master’s degree in Islamic Studies from Mosul University in January 2007 that eventually led him to secure a position teaching classes on Islamic law to ISI members.
He said he was eventually appointed general sharia leader for Mosul in July 2007, ensuring ISIS’ strict interpretation of Islam was enforced in the city. Just three months later, he was be appointed deputy leader of Mosul; though he was demoted a month later. Other reports connect him to the genocide of the Yazidis, an ethnic and religious minority group, in Iraq in 2014.
But there is still much that is unknown, including what al-Mawla was up to between being discharged from the army in 2002 and joining ISI in 2007. Only three out of over 66 TIRs were declassified, and researchers hope that further rounds of document releases will help paint a more complete picture of one of the world’s most notorious terrorists.
During interrogations with Americans, al-Mawla gave up at least 88 members and affiliates of the global terror network, leading one expert to question whether al-Mawla’s loyalties lie to ISIS or to himself. “If you look at the details that are provided here, and the level of individuals against which those details are provided, it becomes hard to look the other way and say he was still being loyal to the organization,” said Dr. Daniel Milton, the director of research at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center that received the TIRs for study.
In earlier interrogations, the current ISIS leader al-Mawla tried to distance himself from the organization, claiming he was a Sufi, which one expert notes at the time would have been a “death sentence” given the group’s supposed belief that Sufis were heretics. In a discussion of the reports, Cole Bunzel, a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, said that al-Mawla’s claim “seems like nonsense.”
President Biden stated 03 February 2022 "Last night at my direction, U.S. military forces successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation. Thanks to the bravery of our Armed Forces, we have removed from the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — the leader of ISIS." Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi blew himself up as American troops approached, killing his family including 6 children & 4 women. US helicopter had a mechanical problem, but the crew was able to fly it away from the raid where it was "properly disposed of some distance from the site and had nothing to do with any kind of hostile action."
Biden confirmed al-Qurayshi’s death and lauded the operation in a brief speech. He blamed the civilian deaths on the ISIL leader, whom he said blew himself up in an “act of desperate cowardice” as US forces approached. “He chose to blow himself up – not just with a vest, but to blow up that third floor – rather than face justice for the crimes he has committed, taking several members of his family with him,” Biden said. Biden said the operation shows the United States’s “reach and capability to take out terrorist threats” around the world. “I’m determined to protect the American people from terrorist threats, and I’ll take decisive action to protect this country,” the US president added.
“Our entire nation is grateful for the patriotism and dedication of our military personnel and intelligence community,” Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the house of Representatives, said in a statement. “On behalf of the Congress, I salute President Biden’s strong leadership to keep our nation safe and secure.”
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