Adnan Latif Hamid al-Suwaydawi al-Dulaymi ( ar, عدنان لطيف حامد السويداوي الدليمي, extra=, ''‘Adnān Laṭīf Ḥāmid as-Suwaydāwī al-Dulaymī'') (1965 – 8 November 2014), also known by his

noms de guerre A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

Abu Muhannad al-Suwaydawi, Abu Abdul Salem, and Haji Dawūd was a top commander in the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic ter ...

(ISIL) and the former head of its Military Council.

Biography

Despite his senior position within the ISIL hierarchy, very little is known about al-Iraqi. He has been referred to as a "shadowy persona". Al-Suwaydawi was a member of the Al-bu Swda clan of the Dulaim, the largest tribe in Iraq's

Al Anbar Governorate Al Anbar Governorate ( ar, محافظة الأنبار; ''muḥāfaẓat al-’Anbār''), or Anbar Province, is the largest governorate in Iraq by area. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan, ...

. Al-Suwaydawi served under the

Ba'athist Ba'athism, also stylized as Baathism, (; ar, البعثية ' , from ' , meaning "renaissance" or "resurrection" Hans Wehr''Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (4th ed.), page 80) is an Arab nationalist ideology which promotes the creation ...

regime of

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

as a lieutenant colonel in the Iraqi Army. He also operated in Iraq's Air Defense Intelligence. According to Ahmed al-Dulaimi, the governor of Al Anbar Governorate, al-Suwaydawi graduated from the same military academy as future senior ISIL leaders

Haji Bakr Samir Abd Muhammad al-Khlifawi, better known by the pseudonym Haji Bakr and sometimes his '' kunya'' Abu Bakr al-Iraqi, was a senior leader of the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), heading its Military Council and leadi ...

and

Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi Adnan Ismail Najm al-Bilawi Al-Dulaimi ( ar, عدنان إسماعيل نجم البيلاوي الدليمي, extra= 1971 – 4 June 2014), better known by the nom de guerre Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi al-Anbari ( ar, أبو عبد الرحمن ا ...

. An IS biography of Abu Muhannad al-Suwaydawi describes him as being "especially close to

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ( ar, أَبُو مُصْعَبٍ ٱلزَّرْقَاوِيُّ, ', ''Father of Musab, from Zarqa''; ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh (, '), was a Jordanian jihadist who ran a t ...

and

and says, "He and Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi were friends both in childhood and jihad". According to the biography, Abu Muhannad was present at both the

First Battle of Fallujah The First Battle of Fallujah, code-named Operation Vigilant Resolve, was an operation against militants in Fallujah as well as an attempt to apprehend or kill the perpetrators of the killing of four U.S. contractors in March 2004. The chief ca ...

and the

Second Battle of Fallujah The Second Battle of Fallujah, codenamed Operation al-Fajr ( ar, الفجر, ) and Operation Phantom Fury, was an American-led offensive of the Iraq War that lasted roughly 6 weeks, starting 7th November, 2004. Marking the highest point of the ...

during the occupation of Iraq. He was also responsible for planning the 2013

Abu Ghraib prison Abu Ghraib prison ( ar, سجن أبو غريب, ''Sijn Abū Ghurayb'') was a prison complex in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, located west of Baghdad. Abu Ghraib prison was opened in the 1950s and served as a maximum-security prison with torture, weekly exe ...

break. In 2007, al-Suwaydawi was detained by U.S. forces in Iraq at

Camp Bucca Camp Bucca ( ar, سجن بوكا, Sijn Būkā) was a forward operating base that housed a theater internment facility maintained by the United States military in the vicinity of Umm Qasr, Iraq. After being taken over by the U.S. military (800th ...

. Following the deaths of Haji Bakr and al-Bilawi in 2014, al-Suwaydawi reportedly succeeded them as head of ISIL's military council.

Death

In November 2014, there were media reports that al-Iraqi had been killed in an Iraqi airstrike that reportedly also injured

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ( ar, أبو بكر البغدادي, ʾAbū Bakr al-Baḡdādī; born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali Muhammad al-Badri al-Samarrai ( ar, إبراهيم عواد إبراهيم علي محمد البدري السامرائي, ʾIb ...

, however this was not confirmed at the time. In May 2015, ISIL carried out a wide-scale assault on Ramadi, capturing the city centre. The assault was named after al-Suwaydawi, who was described as having been killed in a US-led air strike. Jihadists frequently name their military offensives after fallen leaders. ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'' reported that al-Suwaydawi was succeeded by senior ISIL figure

Abu Ali al-Anbari Abdulrahman Mustafa al-Qaduli ( ar, عَبْدُ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ مُصْطَفَى ٱلْقَادُولِيِّ, ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān Musṭafā al-Qādūlī; 1957 or 1959 – March 2016), better known by his noms de guerre Abu Ala al- ...

. In October 2019, an article for the BBC claimed al-Suwaydawi was killed fighting on the front line in Syria by the

Syrian Democratic Forces , war = the Syrian Civil War , image = Flag of Syrian Democratic Forces.svgborder , caption = Flag , active = 10 October 2015 – present , ideology = DemocracyDecentralizationSecularism ...

rather than a US airstrike.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suwaydawi, Abu Muhannad al- 1965 births 2014 deaths Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members from Iraq Iraqi Ground Forces officers Prisoners and detainees of the United States military Iraqi prisoners and detainees Members of al-Qaeda in Iraq Deaths by airstrike during the War in Iraq (2013–2017)