Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi, better 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 Nabil al-Anbari ( ar, أبو نبيل الأنباري, ʾAbū Nabīl al-ʾAnbārī), Abul Mughirah al-Qahtani ( ar, أبو المغيرة القحطاني, ʾAbū al-Mughīrah al-Qaḥtānī) or Abu Yazan al-Humairi ( ar, أبو يزن الحميري, ʾAbū Yazan al-Ḥumayrī) was a 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 leader of its Libyan branch. Al-Anbari was killed by a US military airstrike on 13 November 2015.

History

Abu Nabil al-Anbari was an

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

i policeman who, following the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...

, joined

al-Qaida in Iraq Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI; ar, القاعدة في العراق, al-Qā'idah fī al-ʿIrāq) or Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia ( ar, القاعدة في بلاد الرافدين, al-Qā'idah fī Bilād ar-Rāfidayn), officially known as ''Tanzim Qaidat a ...

and took part in the

Iraqi insurgency Iraqi insurgency may refer to: * Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011), part of the Iraq War ** Iraqi insurgency (2003–2006), 2003–2006 phase of the Iraqi insurgency ** Iraqi civil war (2006–2008), multi-sided civil war in Iraq * Iraqi insurgency (2 ...

. Arrested by American forces in 2008, Abu Nabil spent time in detention in

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 ...

before being released after a year and a half, upon which he returned to militancy. However, not long after he was released, he was captured and imprisoned again, being detained in

until he was freed in a mass prison break in 2013. He would later serve as ISIL's "governor" of

Salahuddin Governorate The Saladin or Salah Al-Din Governorate ( ar, محافظة صلاح الدين) is one of Iraq's 19 governorates, north of Baghdad. It has an area of , with an estimated population of 1,042,200 people in 2003. It is made up of 8 districts, with ...

, responsible for the group's operations there, including the attack on the city of

Samarra Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional ar ...

. As the governor of

, he was responsible for overseeing the execution of up to 1,700 Shia

Iraqi Air Force The Iraqi Air Force (IQAF or IrAF) ( ar, القوات الجوية العراقية, Al Quwwat al Jawwiyah al Iraqiyyah}) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It is responsible for the defense of Iraqi airspace as well ...

cadets in the

Camp Speicher massacre The Camp Speicher massacre occurred on 12 June 2014, when the Islamic State killed between 1,095 to 1,700 Iraqi cadets in an attack on Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq. At the time of the massacre, there were between 5,000 and 100,000 unarmed ca ...

. In 2014, ISIL's leadership dispatched him from Iraq to Libya as part of a delegation to gather pledges of allegiance to

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 ...

from local militants and lead the nascent ISIL branch in the country.

Death

Al-Anbari was killed in a US airstrike outside of Derna, Libya on 13 November 2015. The ''

Libya Herald The ''Libya Herald'' ( ar, ليبيا هيرلد) is an English-language newspaper based in Tripoli, Libya, launched on 17 February 2012. Creation The ''Libya Herald'' was launched on 17 February 2012, the first anniversary of the outbreak of ...

'' reported local claims that al-Anbari had not been killed in the airstrike, however a eulogy to Abu Nabil al-Anbari was published online by a member of ISIL some weeks later. In a statement following the strike, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said "Abu Nabil's death will degrade SIL'sability to meet the group's objectives in Libya, including recruiting new members, establishing bases in Libya, and planning external attacks on the United States." He added: "Reporting suggests emay also have been the spokesman in the February 2015 Coptic Christian execution video," referring to a video which showed the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya after their kidnapping in 2015. His killing was the first military action by the United States against an ISIL target outside of Iraq and Syria while still connected to the organization's core leadership (other militants struck in countries like Nigeria and Afghanistan are not believed by US officials to be directly linked to the Iraq and Syria based leadership). In January 2016, ISIL confirmed al-Anbari's death and launched a series of attacks and

bombings A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...

across Libya named "the battle of Abu al-Mughira al-Qahtani" in his honour. Al-Anbari was succeeded as leader of ISIL in Libya by

Abdul Qader al-Najdi Abdul Qader al-Najdi, also known as Abu Muaz al-Tikriti, was an Iraqi Islamic militant and the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Libya. He was possibly killed in September 2020. History He is sometimes confused as being Saudi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anbari, Abu Nabil al- 20th-century births 2015 deaths People killed in the Second Libyan Civil War Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Libya Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members from Iraq Members of al-Qaeda in Iraq Leaders of Islamic terror groups Year of birth missing