Muhsin al-Fadhli ( ar, محسن الفضلي) (24 April 1981 – 8 July 2015) was an alleged senior leader of Khorasan, an offshoot of the al-Nusra Front, a branch of al-Qaeda.

Militant activity

According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, al-Fadhli fought with the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

and al-Qaeda in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

as the second-in-command to an unnamed al-Qaeda leader. In Chechnya, Al-Fadhli fought against Russian forces and received military training. According to media reports, al-Fadhli was a close confidant of Osama bin Laden, and one of a few people to be informed of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, before they were launched. He was born in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

and used the aliases Abu Majid Samiyah, Abu Samia, Dawud al-Asadi, Muhsin Fadhil Ayyid al-Fadhli and Muhsin Fadil Ayid Ashur al-Fadhli. By 2002, al-Fadhli was raising funds for the attack on the French Maritime Jewel ship that was carried out later that year off the coast of

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

. Al-Fadhli was also suspected of being connected to the October 2002 attack on

U.S. Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

on the

i island of

Faylaka Failaka Island ( ar, فيلكا '' / ''; Kuwaiti Arabic: فيلچا ) is a Kuwaiti Island in the Persian Gulf. The island is 20 km off the coast of Kuwait City in the Persian Gulf. The name "Failaka" is thought to be derived from the ancient ...

. In February 2003, al-Fadhli was convicted by a Kuwaiti court for financial support for terrorist activities and participating in military training in Afghanistan in order to carry out terrorist attacks. The Kuwaiti court issued a five-year jail sentence to al-Fadhi and the other three convicted terrorists. In the U.S. Department of Treasury's 2005 designation of al-Fadhli, he is mentioned as “a major facilitator connected to the brutal terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi” who assisted fighters attacking U.S. and multinational forces. The Saudi

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

listed al-Fadhli as a suspected terrorist in 2005 and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

added al-Fadhli to its Al-Qaida Sanctions List in 2011. In 2012, the

United States State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nat ...

identified al-Fadhli as the leader of al-Qaeda in Iran and issued a $7 million reward for his capture. According to the Treasury's announcement, al-Fadhli started working with al-Qaeda in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in 2009. Al-Fadhli was subsequently arrested by Iranian authorities, but was released in 2011 after which he replaced Yasin al-Suri as the leader of al-Qaeda's Iran-based facilitation network. The Iran-based al-Qaeda web worked to finance terrorist activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan and transport its fighters to al-Qaeda's affiliates in Syria through Turkey. According to the U.S. Treasury, al-Fadhli used his network of Kuwaiti terrorist donors to send money to Syria. Al-Fadhli also received “thousands of dollars” from Abd al-Malik Muhammad Yusuf Uthman Abd al Salam, a

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

i ID holder and designated al-Qaeda and Al Nusra Front facilitator. In mid-2013, al-Fadhli was sent to Syria on behalf of al-Qaeda emir, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in order to mediate disputes between al-Qaeda's then Iraqi branch, 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 term ...

(ISIL) and the al-Nusra Front. In February 2014, al-Fadhli was instrumental in influencing al-Qaeda to disassociate itself from ISIL.

Death

Al-Fadhli was killed on 8 July 2015, when the United States carried out an airstrike, targeting a vehicle near the town of

Sarmada Sarmada ( ar, سرمدا) is a town in the Harem District, Idlib Governorate of Syria.the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a meton ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fadhli, Muhsin Al- 1981 births 2015 deaths Assassinated al-Qaeda leaders Kuwaiti al-Qaeda members Deaths by American airstrikes during the Syrian civil war Deaths by United States drone strikes in Syria