Abu Ayman al-Iraqi | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ali Aswad al-Jiburi |
| Born | |
| Died | (2016-05-18)18 May 2016 Tel Azba,Nineveh Governorate,Iraq |
| Allegiance |
|
| Rank | Head of ISIL's Intelligence Diwan[1] Commander of ISIL'sLatakia Branch ISIL's governor ofDeir ez-Zor |
| Conflicts | |
Ali Aswad al-Jiburi (Arabic:علي أسود الجبوري), better known by hisnom de guerre asAbu Ayman al-Iraqi (Arabic:أبو أيمن العراقي), was anIslamic State commander and Shura council member killed on 18 May 2016 by an airstrike in northern Iraq.
Al-Jiburi's date of his birth is unknown, but according to an IS obituary he was from Mosul and completed his studies in English literature at theuniversity in the city.[2] Abu Ayman al-Iraqi has long been confused with former Iraqi army officerAbu Muhannad al-Suwaydawi but al-Jiburi was much younger and had noBa'athist background.[3]
He joined the early stages of the jihadist insurgency with Al-Qaeda's affiliates in Iraq after the2003 invasion of Iraq. Al-Jiburi was arrested four years later in 2007 and held inCamp Bucca where he became acquainted withAhmed al-Sharaa. During the Iraqi insurgency, after his release from prison he was the head of ISI's intelligence nearMosul and staged assassinations, raids against police and military as well as suicide bombings. In 2012 he was sent with Julani whom he had previously spent time with in prison, from Iraq toSyria inAleppo to help startJabhat al-Nusra.[citation needed]
In July 2013, two years after the American withdrawal from Iraq, Jiburi was believed to have taken part in theAbu Ghraib prison break where 500 prisoners escaped.[citation needed]
He arrived in Syria in 2012 with al-Julani as part of the then newly formed al-Nusra, which operated as theIslamic State of Iraq's secret branch in Syria, during which he was based inAleppo. While in Syria, Jiburi was the head of ISIL's branch in theLatakia Governorate, while there he gained a reputation for "pathological violence" and brutality against theFree Syrian Army.[4]
In March 2013, Jiburi met with ISIL's leaderAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a village nearJabal al-Akrad, which at the time was ISIL's westernmost held piece of territory, and took part in the2013 Latakia offensive alongside theFree Syrian Army,Ahrar al-Sham, and al-Nusra.[citation needed]
In July 2013 he killed a Free Syrian Army commander in Latakia after killing an Ahrar al-Sham commander who tried to stop him, which created tensions between the Free Syrian Army and ISIL, and almost led to an open conflict, however the tensions were mediated byAnsar al-Sham's military commanderAbu Musa al Shishani andJunud al-Sham's leaderMuslim Shishani in late 2013.[5] While holding command over ISIL's presence in Latakia he also held other commands in western Syria and took part in multiple battles in northern and western Syria.[4]
In November 2013, as tensions continued to rise between ISIL and other rebel groups including ISIL's allies al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, efforts were being taken to reconcile issues between these groups, Jiburi ordered the assassination of Jalal Bayirli who attempted to be a mediator between ISIL and the other rebel groups. The rebels later asked ISIL to withdraw from Latakia and hand over Jiburi for his involvement in killings, which ISIL refused.[6]
On 1 January 2014, after the death of an Ahrar al-Sham commander named Abu Rayyan the rebels attacked ISIL expelling the group from Latakia to its base inRaqqa, following the expulsion Jiburi moved to eastern Syria and was appointed as ISIL's governor in theDeir ez-Zor area known asWilayat al-Khayr. During his tenure as the governor of Wilayat al-Khayr he commanded an assault on the border town ofAbu Kamal which was repelled, then shifted his efforts into fighting against the rebels, launching anoffensive against al-Nusra and allied groups in July. During the offensive ISIL defeated al-Nusra from Deir ez-Zor was its strongest branch, and was led byAbu Maria al-Qahtani who is reportedly a relative of Jiburi and strongly opposed ISIL, and rebel groups allied with it.[citation needed]
In the summer of 2014, he took part in a massacre against theShaitat tribe resulting in the death of over 700 tribesmen, after the tribe rebelled against ISIL. He was later removed from his rank as governor and sent toBaghdad.[citation needed]
In Iraq after returning to the country from Syria he was appointed as the governor of ISIL's Northern Baghdad province and fought inFallujah against Iraqi government forces and allied paramilitaries. He was eventually killed by an airstrike in northern Iraq outside of Mosul.[2]
