Salam Jassem Hussein al-Obeidi (aka Major Salam, b: 1979) is an Iraqi officer who received media appraisal during the second Iraqi civil war and the Second battle of Mosul (2016-2017). Salam Hussein is now Colonel.

Early life

Salam Jassem Hussein studied linguistics at university, studying English and Hebrew when the 2003 Iraqi war starts. After the defeat of Saddam Hussein, Salam, against his father's wishes, entered the newly formed and Western-sponsored Iraqi army in late 2003. He was assigned to the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Force (ICTF). In 2004, he joined the fighting during the battle of Najaf against Shia militants from the Mahdi army.

Second Iraqi civil war

When the second Iraqi Civil war erupted, Major Salam Hussein led the 2nd battalion of the 1st division (ISOF-1), part of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces, known as the

Golden Division The Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) ( ar, قوات العمليات الخاصة العراقية) are a special operations force of Iraq. The unit was created in 1950, but was disbanded and recruited from scratch by coalition forces afte ...

. Major Hussein is critical of Iraq's political establishment, especially former Prime Minister

Nouri al-Maliki Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki ( ar, نوري المالكي; born 20 June 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki (), is secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and the vice presiden ...

, whom he regards as the main cause of his country's crisis. He forbade the use of influential Shia cleric

Hussein Hussein, Hussain, Hossein, Hossain, Huseyn, Husayn, Husein or Husain (; ar, حُسَيْن ), coming from the triconsonantal root Ḥ-S-i-N ( ar, ح س ی ن, link=no), is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", " ...

's flag, frequently seen flying over Iraqi army's vehicles and voiced his opposition to anti-Sunni sectarian policies and violence supported or encouraged by various Shia politicians in power. He joined the battles of Tikrit and

Ramadi Ramadi ( ar, ٱلرَّمَادِي ''Ar-Ramādī''; also formerly rendered as ''Rumadiyah'' or ''Rumadiya'') is a city in central Iraq, about west of Baghdad and west of Fallujah. It is the capital and largest city of Al Anbar Governorate whi ...

. On June 9, 2016, while involved in the battle of Fallujah where he sustained injuries from a missile attack. In late 2016, while taking part in the second battle of Mossul, he led the

which breached Mosul's Eastern defenses on November 1, 2016. In late December 2016, after the conquest of the Eastern side of Mosul, he left for the US in order to train 6 months. He returned to Mosul in June 2017 with the rank of

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

, to lead the offensive on Mosul's old town, on the western bank of the river.

References

Fighting the Islamic State with Iraq's Golden Division: The Road to Fallujah
''Vice News'', June 17, 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hussein, Salam Jassem 1979 births Iraqi military personnel Living people

Early life

Second Iraqi civil war

See also

References