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Ibn al-Khattab

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This article is about the Saudi Mujahid. For the second Rashidun caliph, seeUmar ibn al-Khattab.

Samir Saleh Abdullah al-Suwailim(Arabic:سامر صالح عبد الله السويلم;14 April 1963/1969 – 20 March 2002),[1]commonly known asIbn al-KhattaborEmir Khattab,was a Saudi Arabianpan-Islamic mujahid.Though he fought in many conflicts, he is best known for his involvement in theFirst Chechen Warand theSecond Chechen War,which he participated in after moving toChechnyaat the invitation of theAkhmadov brothers.[2]

Ibn al-Khattab
ابن الخطاب‎
1st Emir of theArab Mujahideen in Chechnya
In office
2000–2002
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byAbu al-Waleed
Personal details
Born14 April 1963/1969
Arar,Saudi Arabia
Died20 March 2002 (aged 32/38)
Chechnya,Russia
Nicknames
  • Lion of Chechnya
  • Sword ofIslam
Military service
AllegianceAfghan mujahideen
Azerbaijan
United Tajik Opposition
Bosnian mujahideen
Chechen mujahideen
Years of service1980/1987–2002
CommandsIslamic International Brigade
Battles/wars

The origins and real identity of Khattab remained a mystery to most until after his death, when his brother gave an interview to the press.[3]His death in 2002 had followed his exposure to a poisoned letter, which had been delivered to him by a personal courier who was secretly recruited by theFederal Security Service(FSB) of theRussian Federation.

According to American scholar Muhammad al-Ubaydi who specializes in the study ofmilitant Islam,his continued relevance is due to the fact that he was the internationalistSalafi jihadistfighter par excellence: he was born inSaudi Arabiaand had taken part in conflicts inAfghanistan,Azerbaijan,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Chechnya,Dagestan,andTajikistan,and who in addition to his nativeArabicwas able to communicate inEnglish,Kurdish,Pashto,Persian,andRussian.Compounding this was his charismatic appealing approach towards attracting non-ArabMuslims to fight for his cause and his pioneering use of modern media dissemination techniques to promote jihad, particularly by way of publishing military videos for propaganda purposes.[4]

Early life and education

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Khattab's background is a topic of debate, with some sources placing his year of birth as 1963 in Jordan as well as his birth name being Habib Abd al-Rahman Ibn al-Khattab, to a family ofJordanian-Circassianorigin.[5][6]Another claim says Khattab was born in 1969 as Samir bin Salah al-Suwailim in Arar, Saudi Arabia, to aBedouinfather of the Arab Suwaylim tribe, also found in Jordan, and a mother ofSyrian Turkmendescent. Regardless of the claims, Khattab self-identified as anAraband later identified with both Saudi Arabia and Jordan as his countries.[7]

He was described as a brilliant student, scoring 94 percent in the secondary school examination, and initially wanted to continue his higher studies in theUnited States,even if he was already fond of Islamic periodicals and tapes as opposed to his siblings, to the extent they renamed him after the second caliphUmar ibn al-Khattab.He would retain the title during his militant activities, which began in 1987, by joining theAfghan Arabsagainst theAfghan Government Forcesand theSoviet Army.[8]

Career

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Afghanistan

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At the age of 17, Khattab left Saudi Arabia to participate in the fight against forces of theRepublic of Afghanistanand theSoviet Unionduring theSoviet–Afghan Warand the followingAfghan Civil War.During this time, he lost the majority of his right hand after an accident withIEDs.He never visited the hospital, and he healed it by himself usinghoney,as per theProphetic medicine.[9][10]He would participate in the botchedBattle of Jalalabadin 1989.

Khattab, while the leader ofIslamic International Brigade,publicly admitted that he spent the period between 1989 and 1994 in Afghanistan and that he had metOsama bin LadenandZawahiri.In March 1994, Khattab arrived in Afghanistan and touredfighter training campsinKhost province.He returned toAfghanistanwith the first group ofChechenmilitants in May 1994. Khattab underwent training in Afghanistan and had close connections withal-Qaeda.Several hundred Chechens eventually trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.[11][12]

Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Bosnia–Herzegovina

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Armeniansources claim that in 1992 he was one of many Chechen volunteers who aidedAzerbaijanin the embattled region ofNagorno-Karabakh,where he allegedly metShamil Basayev.However, the AzerbaijaniMinistry of Defensedenied any involvement by Khattab in theFirst Nagorno-Karabakh War.[13][14]

From 1993 to 1995, Khattab left to fight alongsideIslamicopposition in theTajikistan Civil War.Before leaving forTajikistanin 1994, al-Khattab gaveAbdulkareem Khadra pet rabbit of his own, which was promptly named Khattab.[15]

In an interview, Khattab once mentioned he had also been involved in theBosnian War.The fragment of this interview in which he makes this statement can be found in the 2004BBCdocumentaryThe Smell of Paradise,though he did not specify his exact role or the duration of his presence there.[16]

Russia

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First Chechen War

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According to Khattab's brother, he first heard about the Chechen conflict on an Afghan television channel in 1995; that same year, he entered Chechnya, posing as a television reporter. He was credited as being a pioneer in producing video footage of Chechen rebel combat operations in order to aidfundraisingefforts as well as international recruitment, and he himself achieved notoriety in 1996 when he himself filmed an ambush he led against a Russian armored column inShatoy.[17]Not long after his arrival he married an ethnicLakwoman from Dagestan, the sister ofNadyr Khachiliev,an Islamist and leader of the Union of the Muslims of Russia, which has been seen as a way to already internationalize the Chechen struggle.[18]

During theFirst Chechen War,Khattab participated in fighting Russian federal forces and acted as an intermediary financier between foreignMuslimfunding sources and the local fighters. To help secure funding and spread the message of resistance, he was frequently accompanied by at least one cameraman.

His units were credited with several devastatingambusheson Russian columns in the Chechen mountains. His first action was the October 1995 ambush of a Russianconvoywhich killed 47 soldiers.[19]Khattab gained early fame and a great notoriety in Russia for his April 1996ambush of a large armored columnin a narrow gorge of Yaryshmardy, nearShatoy,which killed up to 100 soldiers and destroyed some two or three dozen vehicles.[20]In another ambush, nearVedeno,at least 28 Russian troops were killed.[21]

In 1996 on the order from Aslan MaskhadovPresident of Chechnya,Khattab was appointed as the Chief of Military Training Center of the Central Front of theChRI Armed Forces.[22]

In the course of the war,Shamil Basayevbecame his closest ally and personal friend. He was also associated withZelimkhan Yandarbiyev,who gave Khattab two of the highest Chechen military awards, the Order of Honor and the Brave Warrior medal, and promoted him to the rank ofgeneralin 1997.[23]

A senior Chechen commander by the name of Izmailov told press how Khattab urged restraint, citing theQuran,when at the end of the war the Chechens wanted to shoot those they considered traitors.[24]

Activity in the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria

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After the conclusion of the war, Khattab, by then wanted byInterpolon Russia's request, became a prominentwarlordand commanded theChechen Mujahideen,his ownprivate armywith a group of Arabs, Turks, Chechens, Kurds, and other foreign fighters who had come to participate in the war. He set up a network ofparamilitarycamps in the mountainous parts of therepublicthat trained not only Chechens, but alsoMuslimsfrom theNorth CaucasianRussian republics andCentral Asia.

On 22 December 1997, over a year after the signing of theKhasav-Yurt treatyand the end of the first war in Chechnya, the mujahideen and a group of Dagestani rebels raided the base of the 136th ArmouredBrigadeof the 58th Division of theRussian ArmyinBuinaksk,Dagestan.[25]

War in Dagestan

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In 1998, along withShamil Basayev,Khattab created or reorganized the Mazhlis ul Shura of the United Mujahids (Consultative Council of United Holy Warriors), the Congress of the Peoples of Dagestan and Ichkeriya, theSpecial Purpose Islamic Regiment(SPIR), theIslamic International Peacekeeping Brigade(IIPB) (also known as the Islamic Peacekeeping Army) and a group of female suicide bombers, theRiyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Shahids.[26]In August–September 1999, they led theIIPB's incursions into Dagestan,which resulted in the deaths of at least several hundred people and effectively started theSecond Chechen War.

1999 Russian apartment bombings

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AFederal Security Service of the Russian Federation(FSB) investigation named Khattab as the mastermind behind the September 1999Russian apartment bombings.[27]However, on 14 September 1999, Khattab told the RussianInterfaxnews agency inGroznythat he had nothing to do with theMoscowexplosions; he was quoted as saying,"We would not like to be akin to those who kill sleeping civilians with bombs and shells."[28]

Some journalists and historians, both western and Russian, have claimed that the bombings were in fact a "false flag"attackperpetrated by the FSBin order to legitimizethe resumption of military activities in Chechnya.Among them areJohns Hopkins UniversityscholarDavid Satter,[29]historiansYuri Felshtinsky,[30]Amy Knight[31][32]andKaren Dawisha,[33]and former FSB officerAlexander Litvinenkowho was believed to bepoisoned by Russian agents in London.

However, the invasion of Dagestan in August 1999 was the first and the main casus belli for the Second Chechen War.

Second Chechen War

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During the course of the war in 2000, Khattab took over the leadership of theChechen Mujahideenand participated in leading his militia against Russian forces in Chechnya, as well as managing the influx of foreign fighters and money and also planning of attacks in Russia.

He led or commanded several devastating attacks during this year, such asthe mountain battle,which killed at least 67Russian paratroopers,[34]and theattack on the OMON convoynear Zhani-Vedeno, which killed at least 3 Russian Interior Ministry troops.[35]

Khattab later survived a heavy-calibre bullet wound to the stomach and alandmineexplosion.

Death and legacy

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Khattab died of poisoning on 20 March 2002, when a Dagestani messenger hired by the RussianFSBgave Khattab apoisonedletter the day before. Chechen sources said that the letter was coated with "a fast-actingnerve agent,possiblysarinor a derivative ".[36][37]The messenger, a Dagestani double agent known as Ibragim Alauri, was turned by the FSB on his routine courier mission. Khattab would receive letters from his mother in Saudi Arabia, and the FSB found this to be the most opportune moment to kill Khattab. It was reported that the operation to recruit and turn Ibragim Alauri to work for the FSB and deliver the poisoned letter took some six months of preparation. Alauri was reportedly tracked down and killed a month later inBaku,AzerbaijanonShamil Basayev's orders.[38]Ibn Al-Khattab was succeeded by EmirAbu al-Walid.[39]

He was falsely reported dead whenOmar Mohammed Ali Al-Rammah,a Yemeni prisoner atGuantanamo Bay,faced the allegations that he witnessed Khattab being killed in an ambush inDuisi,a village in thePankisi GorgeofGeorgiaon 28 April 2002.[40][41]

"Khattabka"(хаттабка) is now a popular Russian and Chechen name for an improvisedhand grenade,made from either VOG-17 or VOG-25 grenade.[42]

Due to his fierce opposition and devotion against Russia, he was nicknamed the Lion ofChechnya.

Relationship with Osama bin Laden

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According toFawaz Gergeswho citedSaif al-AdelandAbu Walid al Masri's diaries, Ibn al-Khattab andOsama bin Ladenoperated separate groups, as they defined the enemy differently, but tried to pull each other to their own battle plans.[43]A part of bin Laden's interest was trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction (or at leastdirty bombs) from the Russian arsenal through al-Khattab's contacts.[43]

According toRichard A. Clarke,"Bin Ladensent Afghan Arab veterans, money, and arms to fellow Saudi Ibn Khatab in Chechnya, which seemed like a perfect theater for jihad. "[44]

Works

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He wrote his memoirs entitledMemories of Amir Khattab: The Experience of the Arab Ansar in Chechnya, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.[45]

References

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  1. ^Alexievich, Svetlana (24 May 2016).Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets.Random House Publishing.ISBN9780399588815.
  2. ^Muhammad al-`Ubaydi."Khattab"(PDF).Combating Terrorism Center. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 14 August 2015.Retrieved5 March2015.
  3. ^"Khattab, the man who died for the cause of Chechnya".Islam Awareness.Retrieved20 May2015.
  4. ^Muhammad al-`Ubaydi (1 March 2015),"Khattab (Jihadi Bios Project)"Archived31 May 2023 at theWayback Machine,pp. 2–3,Combating Terrorism Center.Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  5. ^"U.S. PAPER GETS VIDEOTAPE LINKING KHATTAB AND BIN LADEN".Jamestown.
  6. ^Mairbek Vatchagaev,"Security Services May Be Threatening Official Clergy in North Ossetia"inEurasia Daily MonitorVolume: 13 Issue: 10, 2016
  7. ^Bodansky, Yossef (2009).Chechen Jihad: Al Qaeda's Training Ground and the Next Wave of Terror.HarperCollins.p. 40.
  8. ^Mowaffaq Al-Nowaiser (4 May 2002),"Khattab, The Man Who Died For The Cause Of Chechnya",Arab News.Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  9. ^Paul J. Murphy (2004).The Wolves of Islam: Russia and the Faces of Chechen Terror.Brassey's. p. 35.ISBN978-1-57488-830-0.
  10. ^Fitzgerald, Adam (14 February 2023)."The Jihad Continues In Chechnya, Ibn al-Khattab's War".Medium.Retrieved17 July2023.
  11. ^Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and Associated Individuals and Entities
  12. ^QE.I.99.03. ISLAMIC INTERNATIONAL BRIGADE (IIB)Archived14 May 2011 at theWayback Machine"Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and Associated Individuals and Entities"
  13. ^"Chechen Fighter's Death Reveals Conflicted Feelings in Azerbaijan".EurasiaNet.Archived fromthe originalon 3 March 2016.Retrieved20 May2015.
  14. ^"Terror in Karabakh: Chechen Warlord Shamil Basayev's Tenure in Azerbaijan".The Armenian Weekly On-Line: AWOL. Archived fromthe originalon 14 February 2007.Retrieved15 February2007.
  15. ^Michelle Shephard,Guantanamo's Child: The Untold Story of Omar Khadr,John Wiley & Sons, 2008, p. 37
  16. ^"BBC Four – The Smell of Paradise".YouTube.Archived fromthe originalon 9 October 2015.Retrieved3 March2015.
  17. ^Robert Bruce Ware,The Fire Below: How the Caucasus Shaped Russia,Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2013, p. 288
  18. ^Gordon M. Hahn,The Caucasus Emirate Mujahedin: Global Jihadism in Russia's North Caucasus and Beyond,McFarland, 2014, p. 28
  19. ^The Wolves of Islam: Russia and the Faces of Chechen Terror,Murphy, Paul J., 2004
  20. ^"BBC News | EUROPE | Khatab: Islamic revolutionary".news.bbc.co.uk.
  21. ^Russian fighting ceases in Chechnya; Skeptical troops comply with Yeltsin orderCNNArchivedMarch 13, 2008, at theWayback Machine
  22. ^"AMIR KHATTAB".Kavkazcenter.com.Archived from the original on 11 August 2004.Retrieved14 January2023.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  23. ^Ali Askerov,Historical Dictionary of the Chechen Conflict,Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, p. 119
  24. ^Muslim Fighter Embraces Warrior Mystique,The New York Times,17 October 1999
  25. ^Paul J. Murphy,The Wolves of Islam: Russia and the Faces of Chechen Terror,Brassey's, 2004, p. 45
  26. ^Gordon M. Hahn,Russia's Islamic Threat,Yale University Press, 2007, pp. 38–39
  27. ^Murphy, Paul (2004).The Wolves of Islam: Russia and the Faces of Chechen Terror.Potomac Books Inc. p. 106.ISBN978-1-57488-830-0.
  28. ^"Site Links".Archived fromthe originalon 10 April 2005.Retrieved19 December2005.
  29. ^Satter, David.Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State.Yale University Press:2003,ISBN0-300-09892-8
  30. ^Yuri FelshtinskyandVladimir Pribylovsky,The Corporation. Russia and the KGB in the Age of President Putin,ISBN1-59403-246-7,Encounter Books; 25 February 2009, pages133-138
  31. ^"Finally, We Know About the Moscow Bombings".The New York Review of Books.22 November 2012.
  32. ^Getting away with murderArchived15 November 2017 at theWayback MachinebyAmy Knight,The Times Literary supplement, 3 August 2016
  33. ^Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?,By Karen Dawisha, 2014,Simon & Schuster,page 222.
  34. ^John Russell,Chechnya – Russia's 'War on Terror,Routledge, 2007, p. 111
  35. ^"Chechens Rub Salt in Old Wounds"inInstitute for War & Peace Reporting,5 April 2000
  36. ^"More of Kremlin's Opponents Are Ending Up Dead".The New York Times.21 August 2016.
  37. ^Ian R Kenyon (June 2002)."The chemical weapons convention and OPCW: the challenges of the 21st century"(PDF).The CBW Conventions Bulletin(56). Harvard Sussex Program on CBW Armament and Arms Limitation: 47.
  38. ^[1]=18627&tx_ttnews[backPid]=184&no_cache=1 "Who Ordered Khattab's Death?" ],Jamestown Foundation,quoting Russian press sources
  39. ^Rohan Gunaratna,The Global Jihad Movement,Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, p. 358
  40. ^ OARDEC(16 September 2005)."Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Rammah, Omar Mohammed Ali"(PDF).United States Department of Defense.pp. 42–44. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 14 December 2007.Retrieved8 January2008.The detainee witnessed the ambush that killedIbn al Khattab
  41. ^ OARDEC(26 May 2006)."Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al-Rammah, Omar Mohammed Ali"(PDF).United States Department of Defense.pp. 25–27. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 26 February 2008.Retrieved8 January2008.The detainee was captured in a violent road ambush byGeorgia Security ForcesinDuisi, Georgia[ka]on 28 April 2002.
  42. ^Nikiforov, Vladislav (15 May 2019)."Самая массовая граната чеченской войны" Хаттабка ""(in Russian). Archived fromthe originalon 25 March 2020.Retrieved25 March2020.
  43. ^abpp. 57–60,Fawaz A. Gerges,The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global(2005), Cambridge University Press.ISBN0521737435
  44. ^p. 136,Richard A. Clarke,Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror(2004), Free Press.ISBN978-0743260459
  45. ^Elena Pokalova,Returning Islamist Foreign Fighters: Threats and Challenges to the West,Springer, 2019, p. 70
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Video

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