Muhannad (mujahid Emir)

Melfi Al Hussaini Al Harbi, more commonly known as Muhannad (; Mukhannad or Mukhanad, russian: Муханнад, sometimes Моганнед or Моханнад), and also known as Abu Anas (), was a Mujahid Emir (commander) fighting in Chechnya. Following the death of Abu Hafs al-Urduni on 26 November 2006, he was named leader of the battalion of foreign fighters once commanded by the notorious Saudi-born Ibn al-Khattab.

Although Russian intelligence has claimed that he was a native of Jordan who served as a combat pilot (achieving the rank of Lieutenant) in the Jordanian Air Force and who also underwent military training in the United States this is not considered to be true. He is not Jordanian, it is reported in other sources that he was Saudi. He was killed by Russian security forces outside the village of Serzhen-Yurt, Chechnya on 21 April 2011.

Early life

Although little is reliably known of Muhannad's early life, he was born in 1969 and hailed from the Medina area of Saudi Arabia's western Hejaz region. It is said that he have graduated with honors from the Islamic University of Madinah and is believed to have descended from Al Ashraf, meaning “from the family of the Prophet.”

Rebel activity

Muhannad arrived in the Caucasus in 1999 during the early days of the Second Chechen War, attempting to pass through Georgia into Chechnya. Upon arrival in the Pankisi Gorge – a mountainous valley in northeastern Georgia inhabited mostly by ethnic Chechens known as Kists – Muhannad waited almost two years for his opportunity to cross the border. During his time living amongst the Chechen refugees, Muhannad gave lectures on the history of Islam and advocated a “purer” form of the religion than that traditionally practiced by Chechens; it is perhaps no coincidence that Wahabbi influence began to appear in Pankisi around this same time.
Muhannad was eventually able to gain entry into Chechnya with a group controlled by the Akhmadov brothers in 2001, arriving along with other prominent Arab fighters such as Abu Atiya, Abu Rabia, and others. Having acquired previous battlefield experience in Afghanistan, the Philippines, Bosnia, and Kosovo, Muhannad joined the battalion of Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya led by Khattab.

In October 2006, Chechen Republic of Ichkeria president Dokka Umarov made Muhannad one of three deputies to Magomet 'Magas' Yevloyev, the Ingush commander of the separatist military wing then known as the Caucasian Front. The following month, Abu Hafs al-Urduni - the successor to Abu al-Walid (killed in 2004) and Khattab (killed in 2002) as commander of the Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya - was killed by Russian forces in Dagestan, leading to Muhannad's unanimous appointment as the new Emir on 9 December 2006. It is likely that in this same time period, he became the key facilitator connecting Chechen separatists to financial supporters in the Middle East.

Following Umarov's declaration of a North Caucasus-wide insurgent organization called the Caucasus Emirate in September 2007, Muhannad was declared his naib, or deputy. In the meantime, Muhannad was also a ranking member of the rebel unit commanded by Aslambek Vadalov, and his participation in combat operations put him on equal footing with his indigenous counterparts, garnering him much respect.

In February 2008, he was reportedly killed by officers of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) during a search operation near the village of Arshty in Ingushetia. Interfax, however, refuted Muhannad's death the same day, saying it was a different militant. Dokka Umarov later appeared on video with Muhannad to refute statements of his death, calling them lies and propaganda.

According to different sources, Muhannad took part in attacks on Russian security forces in eastern Chechnya in 2008 and in western Chechnya along the border with Ingushetia in 2009. In January 2009, he issued a statement declaring the Caucasus Emirate's support for the Palestinians in Gaza who at that time were under siege by the Israeli military; when he followed that with a declaration on 6 April appointing Umalat Magomedov (also known as al-Bara) to the role of Emir of the Dagestan Front, it suggested that Muhannad had a larger profile within the Caucasus Emirate than most believed a foreign fighter could attain, and that he had the legitimate ability to influence decisions made by Umarov.

On 29 August 2010, Muhannad was one of two commanders who led an assault on the village of Tsentoroy, birthplace of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. The audacious operation was ultimately defeated after several hours of heavy fighting that resulted in the deaths of twelve militants and five security officers.

Split with Dokka Umarov

On 1 August 2010, the rebel website Kavkaz Center posted an announcement from Dokka Umarov in which he stated he was stepping down from the top leadership position in the Caucasus Emirate and naming Aslambek Vadalov as his replacement. However, just three days later Umarov would retract his resignation, leading to confusion over who was actually in control of the North Caucasus insurgency. On 12 August, a video posted on a Russian militant website appeared featuring Muhannad, Khuseyn Gakayev

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