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Sometime after the Fall of Baghdad, al-Douri evaded capture and went into hiding. There are many different reports on his whereabouts. Several sources close to al-Douri's family reported to
.''WikiLeaks'' Nance would also allege that al-Douri fled to Syria after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, where he organised the National Command of the Islamic Resistance which co-ordinated major combat operations during the Iraqi insurgency. The RAND Corporation reported prior to the capture of Saddam Hussein, al-Douri served as "Saddam’s point of contact in Diyala Governorate" and that he's visited Diyala twice to meet with leaders to organize the insurgency inside Iraq. According to a 2005 U.S. memo published by
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri ( ar, عزة إبراهيم الدوري, Izzat Ibrāhīm ad-Dūrī; 1 July 1942 – 25 October 2020) was an Iraqi politician and
,
, Shiite militias claimed to have killed him, but the Iraqi Baath party denied his death. A Kurdish news source also reported that Iraq did not have al-Douri's DNA to confirm his death. Al-Douri appeared in videos talking about events that took place after his alleged death. He died on 25 October 2020.
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
Field Marshal. He served as Vice Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council
The Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council was established after the military coup in 1968, and was the ultimate decision-making body in Iraq before the American-led invasion in 2003. It exercised both executive and legislative authority in the ...
until the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and was regarded as the closest advisor and deputy under President 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 ...
. He led the Iraqi insurgent Naqshbandi Army.
Al-Douri was the most high-profile Ba'athist official to successfully evade capture after the invasion of Iraq, and was the king of clubs in the infamous most-wanted Iraqi playing cards
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States–led coalition, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency developed a set of playing cards to help troops identify the most-wanted members of President Saddam Hussein's government, mostly high-ran ...
. Al-Douri continued to lead elements of the Iraqi insurgency such as the Naqshbandi Army against the then-occupation forces and waged an insurgency against the current regime in Baghdad. Following the execution 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 ...
on 30 December 2006, al-Douri was confirmed as the new leader of the banned Iraqi Ba'ath Party on 3 January 2007."Saddam aide is new Ba'ath leader",
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, 3 January 2007.
Al-Douri was reportedly killed in action—along with his nine bodyguards—on 17 April 2015 in a large-scale military operation by Shiite militias and Iraqi forces near the Al-Alaas oil fields in Hemreen east of Tikrit. The Shiite militant organization Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq
Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH; ar, عصائب أهل الحق Aṣaʾib ʾAhl al-Haqq, "League of the Righteous"), also known as the Khazali Network ( ar, شبكة الخزعلي), is a radical Iraqi Shi'a political party and paramilitary group active ...
has alleged that it killed him and transported his apparent body to Baghdad to confirm its identity. According to the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...Biography
Early life
Born in 1942, al-Douri was born in Al-Dour, near the Iraqi town ofTikrit
Tikrit ( ar, تِكْرِيت ''Tikrīt'' , Syriac: ܬܲܓܪܝܼܬܼ ''Tagrīṯ'') is a city in Iraq, located northwest of Baghdad and southeast of Mosul on the Tigris River. It is the administrative center of the Saladin Governorate. , it h ...
, to Ibrahim Khalil al-Douri, a farmer, and Hamdah Saloum al-Douri. His family belonged to the Al-Shuwaikhat clan of the Jabour tribe. Nicknamed "the Iceman" for his humble origins selling blocks of ice, he became involved in revolutionary politics in his late teenage years, despite having had only a primary school education. He befriended 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 ...
in 1963, then they both served in the early intelligence apparatus of the Ba'ath Party and participated in what would be known as the 17 July Revolution
The 17 July Revolution was a bloodless coup in Iraq in 1968 led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Abd ar-Razzaq an-Naif, and Abd ar-Rahman al-Dawud that ousted President Abdul Rahman Arif and Prime Minister Tahir Yahya and brought the Iraqi Regional ...
in 1968.
During the Ba'athist government
Al-Douri was a senior member of the Ba'athist government underSaddam 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 ...
. This was due to the fact that both al-Douri and Saddam came from the same Tikriti tribal background. When the Ba'athists seized power in 1968, he was made interior minister where he oversaw efforts to sideline political rivals to the Ba'ath Party, mainly the Iraqi Communist Party. Al-Douri became the vice chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council
The Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council was established after the military coup in 1968, and was the ultimate decision-making body in Iraq before the American-led invasion in 2003. It exercised both executive and legislative authority in the ...
prior to 2003, giving him unprecedented amounts of power and influence within the Iraqi political sphere.
As vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, al-Douri was involved in the wars against Iran and Kuwait. During the 1988–1989 Al-Anfal Campaign, al-Douri was said to have ordered Ali Hassan al-Majid
Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti ( ar, علي حسن عبد المجيد التكريت, ʿAlī Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Tikrītī; 30 November 1941 – 25 January 2010), nicknamed Chemical Ali ( ar, علي الكيمياوي, ʿAlī al-Kīm ...
(aka 'Chemical Ali') to use Mustard and Sarin nerve gas on Kurdish fighters in Halabja
Halabja ( ku, هەڵەبجە, Helebce, ) is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the capital of Halabja Governorate, located about northeast of Baghdad and from the Iranian border.
The city lies at the base of what is often referred to ...
. He was complicit in the invasion of Saudi Arabia and the attack on the town of Khafji in January 1991. During the 1991 uprisings in Iraq
The 1991 Iraqi uprisings were ethnic and religious uprisings in Iraq led by Shi'ites and Kurds against Saddam Hussein. The uprisings lasted from March to April 1991 after a ceasefire following the end of the Gulf War. The mostly uncoord ...
, he was involved in the suppression of the revolt led by the Iraqi marsh Arabs. When the Kurds rebelled again in 1991, al-Douri warned them "If you have forgotten Halabja, I would like to remind you that we are ready to repeat the operation."
In 1993, al-Douri was involved in the state-sponsored Return to Faith Campaign ''(al-Hamlah al-Imaniyyah)'', which sought to encourage devotion to Islam in Iraqi social life. This saw aspects of Islam fused into the Iraqi media, education system and judicial system.
On 22 November 1998, al-Douri escaped an assassination attempt when visiting Karbala.
Following the October 2000 events, Arab leaders including al-Douri gathered in Cairo condemning Israel's reaction to the protests. In response to the Palestinian protests, Al-Douri was said to have remarked "The Jews will be taught a lesson."
On 5 March 2003, during an emergency summit of the then Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation, al-Douri made a heated address where he accused the neighbouring Gulf states of being "traitors" for cooperating with the United States and Israel. He blamed Kuwait for being responsible for Iraq's suffering and scrutinised the United States of America's aggressive stance towards Iraq. These comments sparked the Kuwaiti representative to stand up and protest to which al-Douri responded "Shut up, sit down you small American agent, you monkey!"
Al-Douri, a member of the Naqshbandi Order
The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نهقشهبهندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...
, was able to use his position in the regime to leverage support to the Naqshbandi community within Iraq. This form of patronage would eventfully culminate in the rise of the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order during the Iraqi insurgency, of which al-Douri would play a leading role.
Personal life
Al-Douri married for the first time in 1968; however, he married five times in total and had 24 children: 13 daughters and 11 sons. In a sign of loyalty, al-Douri consented to marry his daughter Hawazin to Saddam's eldest son, Uday. Al-Douri's influence with Saddam was so substantial that he could even levy a condition, that the union would not be consummated, and later made a successful petition that his daughter be permitted to divorce Uday. Al-Douri is believed to have suffered fromleukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
and was said to have undergone blood transfusions every six months. In 1999, he visited Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Austria for treatment. The Austrian opposition demanded that he be arrested for war crimes, but the government allowed him to leave the country. His son was reportedly killed in Tikrit in July 2014.
Fall of the Ba'ath regime and Iraqi insurgency
The 2003 US invasion of Iraq
On 20 March 2003,U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
-led coalition forces invaded Iraq, leading to the toppling of the regime of President Saddam Hussein on 9 April 2003. Following the fall of Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
, al-Douri went into hiding. U.S. officials claimed that he was involved in the subsequent Iraqi insurgency against U.S. forces, directing and funding attacks, as well as brokering an alliance between Ba'athist insurgents and militant Islamists.
In November 2003, the U.S.-led coalition issued a US$10 million bounty for any information leading to al-Douri's apprehension by authorities in response to coordinating attacks against Coalition forces
' ps, کمک او همکاري '
, allies = Afghanistan
, opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda
, commander1 =
, commander1_label = Commander
, commander2 =
, commander2_label =
, commander3 =
, comman ...
. One of al-Douri's wives and a daughter were captured in the same month, to be questioned about his whereabouts.
Al-Douri was made the King of Clubs in the famous most-wanted Iraqi playing cards
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States–led coalition, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency developed a set of playing cards to help troops identify the most-wanted members of President Saddam Hussein's government, mostly high-ran ...
, making him among the top 8 "most wanted" figures in Saddam Hussein's regime.
At the time of the 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 26 ...
, al-Douri, along with Saddam and Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan
Taha Yasin Ramadan al-Jizrawi ( ar, طه ياسين رمضان الجزراوي; (1939 – 20 March 2007) was an Iraqi politician and military officer of Kurdish origin, who served as one of the three vice presidents of Iraq from March 1991 to t ...
, were among the three surviving plotters who had brought the Ba'ath Party to power in a coup in 1968.
The Iraqi insurgency and disappearance
In an interview in May 2008, al-Douri detailed his strategy, indicating that "any negotiations with the invaders without it represents a desertion and treason, and is refused by all national, Pan-Arab and Islamic factions of the resistance." During the interview, al-Douri made the following demands: # An official pronounced recognition of the armed and unarmed national resistance, including all its factions and (political) parties, as the sole legitimate representative of the people of Iraq # An official declaration of unconditional withdrawal from Iraq by the U.S. leadership # Declaring null and void all the political and legislative institutions, as well as all the laws and legislation issued by them, since the occupation, with the de-Ba'athfication law in the forefront, and compensating all who were adversely affected by them # A stop to raids, prosecutions, arrests, killings and displacement # Release of all prisoners of war (POWs), prisoners and detainees without exception and compensating all for their physical and psychological damage # Reinstating the army and the national security forces in service in accordance with their preoccupation laws and regulations, and compensating all who were adversely affected by dissolving them # A pledge to compensate Iraq for all the material and moral losses it incurred because of the occupation Al-Douri was reportedly the head of the Iraqi rebel group Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order as well as theSupreme Command for Jihad and Liberation
The Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation (a.k.a. Supreme Council of Jihad and Liberation or SCJL or Ba'athist Loyalists) is an Iraqi front comprising some 23 militia groups formed in October 2007 and were led by former Iraqi vice president a ...
based on his longstanding positions of leadership in the Naqshbandi sect in Iraq.
Whereabouts
Sometime after the Fall of Baghdad, al-Douri evaded capture and went into hiding. There are many different reports on his whereabouts. Several sources close to al-Douri's family reported to Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
that they had not heard of al-Douri since April 2003 and did not know where he was hiding.
According to former intelligence officer Malcolm Nance and a U.S. telegram cable, al-Douri and the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council
The Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council was established after the military coup in 1968, and was the ultimate decision-making body in Iraq before the American-led invasion in 2003. It exercised both executive and legislative authority in the ...
were rumoured to have developed deep relations with Hafez al-Assad and the Syrian Ba'ath party, despite historical differences between the two Ba'ath factions. Al-Douri urged Saddam to open oil pipelines with Syria, building a financial relationship with the Assad family.REVENGING AFLAQ (I): FORMER IRAQI BAATHISTS IN SYRIA -- WHO ARE THESE GUYS?.''WikiLeaks'' Nance would also allege that al-Douri fled to Syria after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, where he organised the National Command of the Islamic Resistance which co-ordinated major combat operations during the Iraqi insurgency. The RAND Corporation reported prior to the capture of Saddam Hussein, al-Douri served as "Saddam’s point of contact in Diyala Governorate" and that he's visited Diyala twice to meet with leaders to organize the insurgency inside Iraq. According to a 2005 U.S. memo published by
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
, Abdullah al-Kharbit, a contractor from a prominent Anbar family claims that a man named Abu Mu'ath, which possibly was a pseudonym for al-Douri was in the Iraqi town of Al-Qa'im. There were reports from al-Hayat
Al-Hayat ( ar, الحياة meaning "Life") was a London-based, pan-Arab newspaper owned by Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan, that had a circulation estimated over 200,000. It was the newspaper of record for the Arab diaspora and the preferred v ...
that al-Douri was allegedly in Mosul visiting his wife, before fleeing to an undisclosed location. NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
reported that al-Douri was rumoured to be hiding in Syria or elsewhere.
In 2007, Iraqi security forces raided a hideout in Tikrit belonging to al-Douri, the raid was based on "confirmed intelligence" that al-Douri was holding meetings with his aides at the hideout. Al-Douri however was not caught. In early 2007, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani
Jalal Talabani ( ku, مام جەلال تاڵەبانی, translit=Celal Talebanî; ar, جلال طالباني ; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2006 to 2014, as well as ...
claimed that al-Douri was not in Syria, but that he was in 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 ...
, he says that the Iraqi government has had this information for a while and has been tracing al-Douri's movements. A U.S. intelligence source told the Long War Journal
''FDD's Long War Journal'' (LWJ) is an American news website, also described as a blog, which reports on the War on terror. The site is operated by Public Multimedia Incorporated (PMI), a non-profit media organization established in 2007. PMI i ...
, that al-Douri was being sheltered in northern Iraq. Iraqi tribal expert and senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American federal institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individuals in diplomacy, mediation, and other pea ...
, Amatzia Baram, claimed that al-Douri is likely in hiding somewhere between Mosul and the Turkish border. Middle East expert Juan Cole
John Ricardo Irfan "Juan" Cole (born October 23, 1952) is an American academic and commentator on the modern Middle East and South Asia. Dead link; no archive located. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University ...
believes that al-Douri is likely in the Mosul area and not Syria.
The U.S. claimed that al-Douri resurfaced in Syria in 2008, however Al-Mawqif Al-Arabi, an Egyptian newspaper which interviewed al-Douri that same year told reporters that he was "on the battlefield" and on a "combat field while weapons were talking", presumably meaning he was still fighting in Iraq. The Combating Terrorism Center
The Combating Terrorism Center is an academic institution at the United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, New York that provides education, research and policy analysis in the specialty areas of terrorism, counterterrorism, homelan ...
reported that al-Douri was still "politically active within Iraq." The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
reported that it was believed that al-Douri was hiding somewhere in Iraq. Likewise, The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
reported that it was believed that al-Douri was hiding around Mosul or Tikrit. Other reports claimed that al-Douri was in the Iraqi town of Ad-Dawr and Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also inc ...
.
According to a leaked U.S. 2009 telegram cable published by WikiLeaks, al-Douri fled to Syria in the spring of 2003, the cable however would admit that his whereabouts between 2003 and 2009 were difficult to pin down. The telegram cable would also claim that al-Douri was no longer part of the "former regime elements" living in Syria, however that same year General David Petraeus who was at the time heading the United States Central Command
The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Ta ...
, instead told reporters from Al Arabiya
Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC.
The channel is a fl ...
that al-Douri was still residing in Syria with "complete freedom". The Syrian government denies that al-Douri is residing in Syria. Iraqi 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 president ...
claimed to U.S. officials that a Syrian offered to show him al-Douri's home in Damascus during a visit. However, Iraqi intelligence sources in 2009 have emphasized that al-Douri was residing in the southern suburbs of Diyala in an Islamic State of Iraq
The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI; ar, دولة العراق الإسلامية '), commonly referred to as al-Qaeda in Iraq ( ar, القاعدة في العراق '), is a militant Salafist jihadist group that aimed to establish an Islamic stat ...
stronghold.
Unconfirmed speculations located al-Douri somewhere in Gulf or the southern Arabian Peninsula, or in Qatar, while other theories claimed that al-Douri had stayed in Iraq permanently since 2003, or that he had "a number of safe houses in and around Muqdadiya."
Despite allegations from U.S. and Iraqi officials that al-Douri was residing in Syria, al-Douri had opposed and even attempted to oust the Syrian-backed Iraqi Ba'athist, Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed, from the party and he had also criticized the Syrian government for being part of an American conspiracy to undermine the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. Furthermore, analysts have noted that "Douri deeply distrusts working with the Syrians because he distrusts the Iranians, who are strong allies with Syria". According to a U.S. telegram cable published by WikiLeaks, the U.S. claimed that according to "press remarks" in May 2008 that "al-Douri criticized Syria for not providing sufficient support to the "Ba'ath cause". However, in an interview on 26 May 2008, al-Douri boasted that his resistance was not supported or incubated by any outside powers.
Some leaders such as former national security advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie and former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have accused the Assad government of harbouring and supporting Iraqi militants. A charge Syria heavily denies and demands be proven with evidence.
While U.S. telegram cable claimed by at least October 2009 that al-Douri was no longer part of the "former regime elements" living in Syria, U.S. intelligence believed al-Douri operated out of Syria until the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, when he may have moved to safe houses across the North-western Iraq province of Nineveh. Malcolm Nance, however claims that al-Douri was still in Syria by as late as 2013, before moving to Tikrit in 2014.
Iraqi insurgency and resurfacing
On 10 November 2011, a man claiming to be Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri released an audio tape condemning a recent arrest campaign targeting suspected Ba'ath Party members. The first visual evidence of his survival surfaced on 7 April 2012 when a video posted online showed him giving a speech. In the shots, he is seen wearing an olive military uniform and glasses, denouncing the Shiite-led government in Baghdad and interference in Iraqi politics by regionalShia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...
powerhouse 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 ...
. "Everyone can hear the sounds of danger echoing daily and threatening this country," al-Douri says during the hour-long broadcast. Prime Minister Maliki's personal adviser, Ali al-Moussawi, said the tape had a propaganda function but that he doubted al-Douri was still in Iraq as he required extensive medical care for a number of illnesses.
On 5 January 2013, a 53-minute video was released on YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
in which al-Douri encouraged recent Sunni protests in Nineveh and Anbar Governorates against 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 president ...
, saying that "the people of Iraq and all its nationalist and Islamic forces support you until the realization of your just demands for the fall of the Safavid-Persian alliance." The message, which showed the Ba'athist leader sitting behind a desk with a small Saddam
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 revolution ...
-era Iraqi flag on it, was partially broadcast on the Al Arabiya
Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC.
The channel is a fl ...
news channel. In the video, released just before the Iraqi Army Day on 6 January, Douri claimed to be somewhere in Iraq's Babil Governorate
Babil Governorate or Babylon Province ( ar, محافظة بابل ''Muḥāfaẓa Bābil'') is a governorate in central Iraq. It has an area of , with an estimated population of 2,065,042 people in 2018. The provincial capital is the city of Hill ...
. However, former U.S. intelligence officials believe it was filmed in Damascus, Syria. Hours after the tape was released, Iraqi military intelligence arrested Abdul Rahman Mohammed Ibrahim, the nephew of al-Douri, in Saladin 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 ...
.
In April 2013, the Iraqi government claimed to be closing in on al-Douri, who they claimed was moving between Tikrit and the towns of Hawija and Dour, which is alleged to be an area of strong support for al-Douri, and also where he is claimed to have owned a villa.
In 2014, al-Douri returned to Tikrit during the Iraqi Civil War.
The fall of Mosul and Iraqi Civil War
Al-Douri played a role in the Northern Offensive as commander of the Naqshbandi Army. Reports soon surfaced that he had links with the jihadist groupISIL
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 ...
, helping them take the city of Tikrit
Tikrit ( ar, تِكْرِيت ''Tikrīt'' , Syriac: ܬܲܓܪܝܼܬܼ ''Tagrīṯ'') is a city in Iraq, located northwest of Baghdad and southeast of Mosul on the Tigris River. It is the administrative center of the Saladin Governorate. , it h ...
and coordinating attacks against Iraqi security forces. On 13 June, a Twitter account, @wikibaghdadi, claimed a "Meeting between ISIS and Naqshbandi Army near al-Qayara area south of Mosul had taken place with representatives from Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri and 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 ...
." In July 2014, al-Douri issued an audio recording praising "the heroes and knights of al Qaeda and the Islamic State" forces in attacking Iraqi government positions within Saladin
Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سهلاحهدین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...
, Kirkuk, Diyala, and Nineveh Governorates. His connections with Islamist elements in Iraq is said to have emerged as far back as during Saddam's regime. According to the '' Soufan Group'', al-Douri had close ties with senior ISIL officials Abu Muslim al-Turkmani and Abu Ayman al-Iraqi. Both men had served in the Ba'athist regime under 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 ...
, with al-Turkmani being a Lieutenant colonel and serving in the '' Istikhbarat'' and Special Republican Guard
The Iraqi Special Republican Guard (SRG) ( ar, الحرس الجمهوري الخاص ""Ḥaris al-‘Irāq al-Jamhūriyy al-Khas"), also known as the Special Forces Brigade of the Presidential Palace, Republican Guard Special Protection Forces, o ...
. Al-Iraqi had been a Colonel in Iraq's Air Defense Intelligence.
Al-Douri has been pointed out as one of the main commanders responsible for successful takeover by rebel groups of North Iraq and the city of Mosul in June 2014. The Naqshbandi Army, along with other groups led by former Ba'ath officers, are reported to have assumed an increasingly large role in the governance and administration of occupied cities. Militants were reported to have appointed fellow Ba'ath generals Azhar al-Obeidi and Ahmed Abdul Rashid as the governors of Mosul and Tikrit. Shortly afterwards, unverified reports emerged that the Ba'ath Party, under al-Douri's leadership, declared war on ISIL
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 ...
in response to the displacement of Christians from Mosul. Other reports still maintained that there was a limited degree of cooperation between the two groups.
Iraqi Civil War and resurfacing
In May 2015, an audio recording alleging to be that of al-Douri, criticized both ISIL and Iran. He also hailed the Saudi-led alliance targeting theHouthi
The Houthi movement (; ar, ٱلْحُوثِيُّون ''al-Ḥūthīyūn'' ), officially called Ansar Allah (' ''Partisans of God'' or ''Supporters of God'') and colloquially simply Houthis, is an Islamist political and armed movement that ...
militias in Yemen. On ISIL he stated "We do cross paths ... but what stops us from meeting is that even if we wanted to, they would not accept because they consider the Ba'ath infidels". He claimed that the group was detaining a third of the Ba'ath's command, and then went on to claim the number of ISIL victims in Iraq "does not equal 1% of those killed by the militias
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
". On Iran, al-Douri called for the "Iraqis in Al-Anbar
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, ...
and Karbala to strongly fight the Persian criminal plan, which aims at swallowing Iraq." He stressed that Iran is the main player in Iraq and it is working through the Quds Force
The Quds Force ( fa, نیروی قدس, niru-ye qods, Jerusalem Force) is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War ...
.
In October 2015, it was reported that al-Douri's Naqshbandi Army was involved in secret discussions with the Iraqi government, alongside other insurgent groups, as part of a move to create a new Sunni force to fight ISIL in Iraq.
On 7 April 2016, he released a video in which he sits at a desk in military uniform, flanked by two bodyguards and reads a statement. He calls on 'mujahideen' in Iraq to fight the Shia militias and combat Iranian influence in Iraq under the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism created by Saudi Arabia on 15 December 2015. He said: "We consider everything that is happening in Iraq from Iran, its agents, militias, and its security apparatus, is the responsibility of the United States". He added: "If it .S.did not move to save Iraq and its people from Iran's hegemony, control and occupation, and to stop bloodshed, destruction, burning and the changing demographic, then Iraqi people should resist he occupation" He stated that one of the ways to deal with the issue in Yemen was to make Iran and its allies adhere to the Security Council decision on ceasefire.
In April 2018, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri released a new video commemorating the 71st anniversary of the Baath party and vowing that U.S. President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
"will never attack Iran until the Resurrection Day."
In an article published by NRT News, reports an Iraqi politician, Hassan Alawi, meeting Al-Douri in the Kurdistan
Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages ...
region of 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 the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
multiple times, the latest at 17 August 2021, implying that he is alive.
Allegations of death
In November 2005, Arab media reported that al-Douri died of natural causes, probably in Iraq. On 17 April 2015, al-Douri allegedly died during a military operation conducted by the Iraqi Army near Al-Alaas oil fields inHamrin Mountains
The Hamrin Mountains ( ar, جبل حمرين, Jabāl Hamrīn, ku, چیای حەمرین, Çiyayê Hemrîn or Çiyayên Hemrîn) are a small mountain ridge in northeast Iraq. The westernmost ripple of the greater Zagros mountains, the Hamrin moun ...
, east of Tikrit. Iraqi security forces and Shia militias opened fire at a convoy believed to be carrying al-Douri and nine bodyguards, resulting in a 25-minute firefight. General Haider al-Basri, a senior Iraqi commander, announced to state television that the man believed to be al-Douri and his guards were killed. The Shi'ite militant organization Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq
Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH; ar, عصائب أهل الحق Aṣaʾib ʾAhl al-Haqq, "League of the Righteous"), also known as the Khazali Network ( ar, شبكة الخزعلي), is a radical Iraqi Shi'a political party and paramilitary group active ...
claimed to have killed him, saying that his body was being transported to Baghdad to confirm its identity. Before delivering the body to Baghdad, Shi'ite militias did DNA tests on the body and confirmed the results on 19 April. The body was delivered to Baghdad on 20 April, with the government starting the DNA tests a day after, on 21 April. The governor of Salahaddin province, Raed al-Jabbouri, characterized al-Douri as a "mastermind of Islamic State in Iraq (ISIS)" and stated that his death would be a blow to the group.
On 24 April 2015, the Iraqi Health Ministry spokesman, Dr. Ziyad Tareq, said: "The ministry does not have any DNA test (results) for any relative of al-Douri at the present time, and further efforts will be made to achieve a DNA result."
On 15 May 2015, a Ba'athist television channel released an audio recording, purportedly made by al-Douri, in which the speaker referred to events that had happened since al-Douri's reported death on 17 April.
In June 2018, Raghad Saddam Hussein was reported to have sent a note of condolence to Al Douri's family, with the source saying that "Douri died of a hematological illness at a Tunisian hospital."
Several Arabic language media outlets reported that the Baath Party announced his death on 25 October 2020. It is unknown what he died of. Al-Baath Party issued a statement following his death, which read: "Today, the knight of the Baath and the Iraqi national resistance has dismounted from his horse".
Saddam's daughter, Raghad, tweeted a message regarding Al-Douri's death on 26 October.
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Douri, Izzat Ibrahim 1942 births 2020 deaths Iraqi generals Members of the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region Government ministers of Iraq Iraqi Arab nationalists People of the 1991 uprisings in Iraq People sentenced to death in absentia Iraqi mass murderers People of the War in Iraq (2013–2017) Muslim socialists