Abu Nabil al-Anbari

Abu Nabil al Anbari (in Arabic أبو نبيل الأنباري), also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi and Abul Mughirah al Qahtani,[1] was reportedly the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Libya. Al-Anbari was killed by a US military airstrike, carried out by two F-15E military aircraft, on 13 November 2015, outside of Derna in eastern Libya.[2][3][4][5]

Abu Nabil al-Anbari was an Iraqi national who was for a long-time an al-Qaeda operative and had previously led Al-Qaeda in Iraq operations between Fallujah and Ramadi from 2004 to 2010. He was part of a delegation dispatched from Iraq to Libya in September 2014 by ISIL's leadership, in order to gather pledges of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from local militants and lead the nascent ISIL branch in the country.[6]

In a statement following his reported death, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said "Abu Nabil's death will degrade [ISIL's] ability to meet the group's objectives in Libya, including recruiting new members, establishing bases in Libya, and planning external attacks on the United States."[7] He added: "Reporting suggests [he] may 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.[3] 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).[3][8]

On 15 November 2015, the Libya Herald, quoting unnamed sources in Derna, claimed, that al-Anbari was not killed in the US airstrike and was not in Derna at this time.[9] However, a eulogy to Abu Nabil al-Anbari was published online by a member of ISIL some weeks later,[10] and an interview with his replacement was published in an ISIL magazine in March 2016.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Eulogy to Abu Nabil al-Anbari: Islamic State leader in Libya". International Business Times. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016. Abul-Mughirah al-Qahtani, also known as Abu Nabil al Anbari, a senior Iraqi commander who was killed US air strikes in November 2015
  2. ↑ "Statement from Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook on Nov. 13 airstrike in Libya > U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE > News Release View". Defense.gov. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
  3. 1 2 3 Ryan, Missy (14 November 2015). "U.S. officials: Chief of Islamic State in Libya thought to be killed in airstrike". The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Pengelly, Martin (14 November 2015). "Islamic State leader in Libya 'killed in US airstrike'". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Masi, Alessandria (8 December 2015). "Russian, European Airstrikes Against ISIS Are Fanning Out The Caliphate To North Africa". International Business Times. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  6. ↑ Paul Cruickshank, Nic Robertson, Tim Lister and Jomana Karadsheh, CNN (18 November 2014). "ISIS comes to Libya - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  7. ↑ U.S. Department of Defense: U.S. Airstrike Kills Senior ISIL Leader in Libya
  8. ↑ "Exclusive: U.S. Targets ISIS in Libya Airstrike". The Daily Beast. 14 November 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  9. ↑ "Abu Nabil Al-Anbari "not killed" in US Derna attack: report". Libya Herald. 15 November 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  10. ↑ "Eulogy to Abu Nabil al-Anbari: Islamic State leader in Libya". Middle East Forum. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  11. ↑ "New Islamic State leader in Libya says group 'stronger every day'". Reuters. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
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