Abu Osama al-Iraqi: From the commander of Saddam’s army of the leader of ISIS

Ahmed Sultan

Abu Osama al-Iraqi is an Iraqi army commander who participated in the first Gulf War, before the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, then became one of the most prominent leaders of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

He grew up in a poor family in the Bazaiz Bahrez district of Diyala province, and joined the Iraqi army for a long time before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

At the beginning of the US invasion of Iraq, he formed one of the first terrorist brigades in Iraq, before he later pledged allegiance to the leader of the Tawhid and Jihad group, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and joined al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

Gold Thieves

Laith al-Majma’i or Abu Osama al-Iraqi remained loyal to al-Qaeda, which in late 2006 became the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS), and took part in fighting the group that splintered out of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the group’s leader, in late 2007.

He succeeded with several other members of the organization in eliminating dissidents and continued terrorist operations until he was injured in a US Apache attack in 2008.

After recovering from his injury, he formed an armed group to rob the gold shops in Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala;

In front of victory

In late 2011, then-leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, sent Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, along with half of the group’s members, to set up a branch of the group in Syria under the name Jabhat al-Nusra.

Later, Golani began to break the direction of Baghdadi and sought independence at Jabhat al-Nusra.

During that period, al-Baghdadi sent Laith Mutlaq al-Majma’i to lead Jabhat al-Nusra groups in the eastern Syrian region (and the province of al-Hasakah), and he worked with a new nickname, Abu Osama al-Iraqi.

As soon as he arrived in Syria, al-Iraqi began preparing for battles against Syrian armed factions fighting ISIS, and he was one of those who rejected the idea of ​​reconciliation with them.

In March 2014, Syrian factions ambushed Abu Usama al-Iraqi and his companions, and succeeded in killing his companions.

In the body of Daesh war

Upon his return to the terrorist organization, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi chose him to be a member of the Daesh War Board, which is responsible for planning major terrorist operations and overseeing ISIS military operations.

The Iraqi participated in the planning of the battle of Mosul (ISIS began preparing for the battle from 2015 and the Iraqi army began the battle to restore Mosul in 2016), and the preparation of fronts inside the city for war with the Iraqi army, during which time Iraqi forces announced his death in the province of Salah al-Din, but the organization has never confirmed his death.