Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani

Last updated
Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani
Born1959 (age 6465)
Nasiriyah, Iraqi Republic
Allegiance Badr Brigades (1980s–2003)
Special Groups
Years of service2003-present
Unit Sheibani Network
Commands Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada [1]
Battles / wars Iraq War

Hamid Thajil Warij al-Attabi (born 1959), better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani or Hamid al-Sheibani, [2] is an Iraqi militant leader who commands the insurgent group and smuggling network known as the Sheibani Network, which became one of the Iraqi Special Groups. An arrest warrant was issued for him by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq on 12 April 2005 with a reward of $200,000 for information leading to his capture. In 2006 he was added to the Iraqi government's 41 Most-Wanted list. [3] He holds both Iraqi and Iranian nationalities because he lived in exile in Iran during Saddam Hussein's rule, and later returned there to live in Tehran after 2006. [2] In September 2010, after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki formed a coalition government with Shi'a rebel leader Muqtada al-Sadr, Sheibani was allowed to return to Iraq along with Abu Deraa. [4]

Sheibani was a former member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq's Badr Brigades, after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq he created an arms smuggling network linked to Iran's Quds Force. The Sheibani network was used to supply Qais Khazali's Khazali Network (also known as Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq) and other Special Groups, [5] The group is also responsible for numerous attacks against Coalition and Iraqi security forces, in particular British forces in Basra. The Sheibani network is alleged to be responsible for a bombing in July 2005 which killed three British soldiers as well as other attacks. [6] After his return to Iraq in 2010, he joined forces with the Khazali network. [4]

His younger brother Abu Yaser al-Sheibani, who was his second-in-command, was captured by US forces on April 20, 2007. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qusay Hussein</span> Iraqi politician (1966–2003)

Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Nasiri al-Tikriti was an Iraqi politician, military leader, and the second son of Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in 2000. He was also in charge of the Republican Guard, a branch of the Iraqi military. Qusay, his son Mustafa, and his brother Uday were killed in a U.S. raid in Mosul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011)</span> Aspect of the Iraq War

The occupation of Iraq (2003–2011) began on 20 March 2003, when the United States invaded with a military coalition to overthrow Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and continued until 18 December 2011, when the final batch of American troops left the country. While the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia were the largest contributors to the coalition, 29 other countries, such as Japan, were involved in the Iraq War in a lesser capacity. Additionally, several private military contractors took part in enforcing the occupation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad</span> Jordanian/Iraqi Salafi jihadist militant group (1999–2004)

Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, abbreviated as JTJ or Jama'at, was a Salafi jihadist militant group. It was founded in Jordan in 1999, and was led by Jordanian national Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for the entirety of its existence. During the Iraqi insurgency (2003–11), the group became a decentralized network with foreign fighters with a considerable Iraqi membership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011)</span> Sectarian/anti-government warfare in American-occupied Iraq

An Iraqi insurgency began shortly after the 2003 American invasion deposed longtime leader Saddam Hussein. It is considered to have lasted until the end of the Iraq War and U.S. withdrawal in 2011. It was followed by a renewed insurgency.

Al-Qa'im is an Iraqi border town located nearly 400 km (248 mi) northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border and situated along the Euphrates River, and located in the Al Anbar Governorate. It has a population of about 74,100 and it's the center of the Al-Qa'im District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Ayyub al-Masri</span> Egyptian al-Qaeda member (1967–2010)

Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, born Abdel Moneim Ezz El-Din Ali Al-Badawi, was an Egyptian militant leader who was the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq during the Iraqi insurgency, following the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in June 2006. He was war minister of the Islamic State of Iraq from 2006 to 2010 and prime minister of the Islamic State of Iraq from 2009 to 2010. He was killed during a raid on his safehouse on 18 April 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Omar al-Baghdadi</span> First leader of the Islamic State of Iraq (1959–2010)

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, born Hamid Dawud Mohamed Khalil al-Zawi was an Iraqi militant who was the Emir of the Islamic militant umbrella organization Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC), and its successor, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), which fought against the U.S.-led Coalition forces during the Iraqi insurgency.

Hamid Juma Faris Jouri al-Saeedi was a member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq accused by Iraq's government of being "the number two al-Qaeda leader [in Iraq] after Abu Ayyub al-Masri." He was captured during a joint raid by Iraqi and United States forces on June 19, 2006 either north or southwest of Baquba, Iraq.

Ismail Hafidh al-Lami — known as Abu Deraa is an Iraqi Shia militant whose men have been accused of retaliatory terrorizing and killing of Sunnis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Musab al-Zarqawi</span> Jordanian jihadist (1966–2006)

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh, was a Jordanian militant jihadist who ran a training camp in Afghanistan. He became known after going to Iraq and being responsible for a series of bombings, beheadings, and attacks during the Iraq War, reportedly "turning an insurgency against US troops" in Iraq "into a Shia–Sunni civil war". He was sometimes known by his supporters as the "Sheikh of the slaughterers".

The 2008 Nineveh campaign was a series of offensives and counter-attacks between insurgent and Coalition forces for control of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq in early-to-mid-2008. Some fighting also occurred in the neighboring Kirkuk Governorate.

Special Groups (SGs) is a designation given by the United States military to the cell-based Shi'a paramilitary organizations operating within Iraq, According to the United States these groups are funded, trained, and armed by the Iranian Quds Force, part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joint Special Operations Command Task Force in the Iraq War</span> Special operations unit

The Joint Special Operations Command Task Force which fought in the Iraq War was a joint U.S. and British special operations temporary grouping assembled from different units. It has been described as a "hunter-killer team" with its core made up of the United States Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta and the 75th Ranger Regiment, as well as the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group and members of the United States Air Force's 24th Special Tactics Squadron, all under Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and elements from the United Kingdom Special Forces, including the Special Air Service, Special Boat Service (SBS), Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), 18 (UKSF) Signal Regiment and the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG). The task force was reported to be responsible for the cross border raid into Syria from Iraq in October 2008 that resulted in eight deaths including Abu Ghadiya, along with several US operations in the Horn of Africa targeting al-Qaeda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qais Khazali</span> Pro-Iran Iraqi insurgent

Qais Hadi Sayed Hasan al-Khazali is an Iraqi politician and militant leader who is the founder and Secretary-General of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, an Iraqi Shi'ite paramilitary organization and political party. He is best known as the founder and leader of the Iran-backed Special Groups in Iraq from June 2006 until his capture by British forces in March 2007. As head of the Special Groups, Khazali directed arms shipment, formation of squads to participate in fighting, and insurgent operations, most notably the 20 January 2007 attack on American forces in Karbala. A former follower of Muqtada al-Sadr, he was expelled from the Mahdi Army in 2004 for giving "unauthorized orders" and founded his own group: Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) also known as the "Khazali Network" that was later designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. Department of State. During his incarceration, Akram al-Kaabi became acting commander of the organization until his release in January 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq</span> Iraqi Shia paramilitary group

Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, also known as the Khazali Network, is a radical Iraqi Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary organization active in the Iraqi insurgency and Syrian Civil War. During the Iraq War it was known as Iraq's largest "Special Group", and it is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in the 41st, 42nd, and 43rd Brigades, cooperating with the Iraqi government in its fight against ISIS.

The Sheibani Network was an Iraqi smuggling network and Shi'a Insurgent group led by Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani, an ex-commander of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq's Badr Brigades. The Badr Brigades' militiamen and supply lines became known collectively as the “Sheibani Network,” which maintained links to Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) and to Kata'ib Hezbollah. The group was believed to be used by Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force to supply Iraqi Special Groups. The group is alleged to be responsible for numerous attacks on Iraqi and Coalition forces. In 2009 the American Enterprise Institute believed that the network consisted of 280 members, divided in 17 units. US commanders estimated that weapons smuggled and used by the group were responsible for the death of 170 and injuries to 600 American soldiers by February 2007. Beginning in February 2013, reports from Iraqi newspapers Al Masalah and Kitabat claimed splits had emerged within Kata'ib Hezbollah, leading to the expulsion of al-Sheibani as its leader. In May 2013 al-Sheibani founded Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, but retired from his role as leader in 2014 when he became an advisor to Iraqi Interior Minister Mohammed Al-Ghabban.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic State of Iraq</span> Militant Salafist jihadist group in Iraq (2006–2013)

The Islamic State of Iraq was a Salafi jihadist militant organization that fought the forces of the U.S.-led coalition during the Iraqi insurgency. The organization aimed to overthrow the Iraqi federal government and establish an Islamic state governed by Sharia law in Iraq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Ali al-Anbari</span> ISIL deputy leader (died 2016)

Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, better known as Abu Ali al-Anbari, was the governor for territories held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria. Considered the ISIL second-in-command, he was viewed as a potential successor of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis</span> Iraqi military commander (1954–2020)

Jamal Ja'far Muhammad Ali Al Ibrahim, known by the kunyaAbu Mahdi al-Muhandis was an Iraqi commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). At the time of his death, he was deputy chief of the PMF and regarded as one of Iraq's most powerful men.

Hasan al-Salahayn Salih al-Sha'ari, known as Abu Habib al-Libi, is a Libyan man who has been a senior Islamic State leader in both Iraq and Libya.

References

  1. "Iran's Foreign Legion: The Role of Iraqi Shiite Militias in Syria" . Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 United States Department of the Treasury Treasury Designates Individuals, Entity Fueling Iraqi Insurgency Archived 2010-05-28 at the Wayback Machine
  3. GlobalSecurity.org Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani
  4. 1 2 Iraq: Return of Sheibani's killer squads, Sept. 30, 2010
  5. "Iran's Hard Power Influence in Iraq". Archived from the original on 2014-11-16. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
  6. BBC Iraq exit strategy still elusive, 21 September 2005
  7. Press Briefing, July 2 [usurped]

Further reading