Younis al-Ahmed | |
|---|---|
محمد يونس الأحمد | |
 | |
| Regional Secretary of theRegional Command of theIraqi Regional Branch | |
| Assumed office 3 January 2007 (in opposition toIzzat Ibrahim al-Douri until 2020) | |
| Preceded by | Saddam Hussein |
| Leader ofAl-Awda | |
| Assumed office June 2003 | |
| Governor of theAl-Muthana Governorate[1] | |
| In office Unknown–1990 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1949 (age 75–76) al-Mowall,Mosul Province,Kingdom of Iraq |
| Political party | Iraqi Regional Branch of theArab Socialist Ba'ath Party |
| Profession | Military Officer |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Ba'athist Iraq (to 2003) |
| Branch/service |  Iraqi Ground Forces (until 2003) |
| Rank | Major General |
| Unit | Political Guidance Directorate |
| Commands | al-Awda (from 2003) |
| Battles/wars | |
Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed al-Muwali (Arabic:محمد يونس الأحمد), also known by hispseudonymKhadr al-Sabahi, is an Iraqi formermilitary officer and former senior member of theIraqi Ba'ath Party. Ahmed currently has a million-dollar bounty placed on his head as one of Iraq's most wanted men accused of funding and leading resistance operations.[2]
He is the leader ofal-Awda; an underground Ba'athist movement inIraq.
Ahmed was born in1949 in al-Mowall in theKingdom of Iraq'sMosul Province,[3][a] and rose in the ranks of theIraqi Ba'ath Party under the rule ofSaddam Hussein. Initially serving in theIraqi Army's Political Guidance Directorate, which was tasked with ensuring Ba'athist control of the military, Ahmed later became a senior member of the party's Military Bureau.[5]
Though part of the Ba'ath Party's supreme command by the time of the2003 invasion of Iraq, theUnited States did not prioritize his capture until months after the fall of the Ba'athist government, inadvertently giving Ahmed enough time to go into hiding.[5]
A former aide to formerPresident of Iraq and leaderSaddam Hussein and a regional Baath Party organizer who it appears was trained inMoscow, following the 2003Iraq War, he was allegedly one of the leading figures among theIraqi Insurgency and a major rival toIzzat Ibrahim al-Douri.[6] By 2006, the Iraqi government alleged he was an "operational leader", "financial facilitator" and field commander of the Ba'athist insurgents.[7][8]
Largely based inSyria since the war, Younis was accused by Iraqi Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki of having access to substantial funds and that he has been disbursing funds and directing fighting of Sunni insurgents inside Iraq.[9][10] According to journalistsMichael Weiss andHassan Hassan, Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad attempted to make al-Ahmed the leader of the Iraqi Baathist insurgents at some point.[8] However, others reported that his organization,al-Awda has many Shi'ites in the middle level and is attractive to some former Ba’athist Shi'ites from southern Iraq,[5] and it is believed that Shi'ite followers of Younis are active in southern Iraq.[11] Furthermore, it is reported that Younis' organization is focused on securing political rehabilitation, amnesties and the repatriation of Baathist exiles, unlike theNaqshbandi Army which wants to violently overthrow the Iraqi government.[12] According to theUnited States Department of the Treasury, Younis has lived back and forth between Syria, Iraq and theUnited Arab Emirates.[13]
On 23 August 2009, the Iraqi government aired a taped of an alleged conversation between two members of theSyria-based Iraqi Ba'athist movement, Sattam Farhan and al-Ahmed, linking them with theAugust 2009 Baghdad bombings which claimed more than 100 lives.[14] The Syrian Foreign ministry denied Syrian involvement in the attack. On 25 August, Iraq summoned its ambassador to return from Syria, the Syrian government issued a similar order to its ambassador within hours in retaliation.[15][14] When the Iraqi government demanded in November 2009 that Syria extradite al-Ahmed, President al-Assad refused to do so, claiming that he had already been expelled from Syria.[15] Despite this, Iraqi and American security forces had reported no signs of Baathists illegally crossing the border in the recent months[16] and responsibility for the August bombings was later claimed by theIslamic State of Iraq.[14]
al-Ahmed was first mentioned in a report in the Iraqi government-owned al-Sabah newspaper, which reported on 6 December 2004 that a captured insurgent,Muayyad Yaseen Aziz, the leader ofJaysh Muhammad, had claimed that Ahmed had recently been elected Secretary of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party at a conference held by a group of Ba'athist fugitives inAl-Hasakah,Syria. Ahmed made another attempt for the party leadership following the death ofSaddam Hussein, leading to condemnation from supporters ofal-Douri who ordered the expulsion of Ahmed and 150 other members of the party. Ahmed issued a counter-order ordering the expulsion of al-Douri from the party, leading to the creation of two separate wings of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party.[5] Al-Douri issued a statement criticizing Syria and Younis for what al-Douri claimed was an American-supported attempt to undermine the Iraqi Ba'ath party, although this statement was later downplayed.[5]
Ahmed's wing of the party allegedly has contacts with formerRepublican Guard CommanderRa'ad al-Hamdani,[17] and has also allegedly been in contact withWafiq Al-Samarrai in an effort to legitimize the party.
Ahmed, in his attempts to reunite the party, and built a close working relationship with the Syrian government,[8] unlike al-Douri, who distrusts the Syrians due to their alliance with the Iranians. The Syrian government is quietly supporting Ahmed in order to gain more control over the Iraqi Ba'ath party.[18][8] In March 2009 several members representing Younis approachedCoalition Forces and theProvincial Reconstruction Team inSaladin Governorate. They met with representatives of the Coalition, instead of representatives of the Iraqi Government, because they claimed the Iraqi government was under Iranian influence, and might seek revenge against any Ba'ath Party members.[citation needed]
Ahmed's attempts to recruit support in Syria from former Iraqi Ba'athists is meeting some success, particularly among the poorer Sunni Arab segment of the refugee population, due in part to Ahmed's ability to offer cash incentives and Syrian residency permits due to their closeness to the Syrian government.[18]