Khalid al-Aruri

Khalid Mustafa Khalifa al-Aruri was born on July 25, 1967 in Ramallah on the West Bank and is a Jordanian citizen.[1] He is also known by his aliases Abu al-Qassam, Abu Ashraf and Abu Jabal. Al-Aruri is married Alia to a sister of the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.[2]

Jihadi credentials

Khalid al-Aruri grew up in Zarqa with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and both men traveled al-Zarqawi to Afghanistan in 1989 and stayed there until 1993. From 1993 until 1999 both men were in a Jordanian prison, where al-Zarqawi founded his Bayt al-Imam organization. After their release the two traveled again to Afghanistan where Al-Aruri become the commander of Al-Zarqawi's jihadi training camp near Herat.[3]

After Zarqawi and his men left Afghanistan in 2001 al-Aruri was one of Zarqawi's trusted inner circle advisors and became one the key liaisons for with Ansar al-Islam in Northern Iraq.[4] Al-Aruri operated as al-Zarqawi's quartermaster and was in charge of training camps in Northern Iraq.[5]

On February 5, 2003 Al-Aruri as Abu Ashraf was mentioned in the speech of Secretary of State Colin Powell to the U.N. Security Council. As Abu Ashraf he was shown on a partial organization chart which was linked to four cells operating in Europe. Cited were a “UK poison cell” a “Spain cell” a “French poison cell”, and a “possible Italy cell.”[6] Former Director of Intelligence and Counterintelligence at the U.S. Department of Energy and CIA veteran Rolf Mowatt-Larsen stated that "Secretary Powell’s information used for this part of speech proved to be accurate in the course of events."[7]

The relation between al-Qa'ida topleader Sayf al-Adl and Khalid al-Aruri goes back to 1999 when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had meetings with the al-Qa'ida leadership in Kandahar before opening his training camp near Herat. According to al-Adl, al-Zarqawi "used to travel with Khalid al-Aruri and Sulayman Darwish Abu-al-Ghadiyah."[8]

Arrest in Iran

Al-Aruri moved to Iran and was one of al-Zarqawi's main facilitators there. In a Moroccan investigation into the March 2003 Casablanca bombings Al-Aruri surfaced as a financier of the attacks as he had sent U.S. $70,000 to the Moroccan Aziz Hummani.[9] Al-Aruri was involved in a WMD smuggle ring just before he got arrested in Iran, just before he was going to cross the border with Turkey.[10]

Release by Iran

In March 2015 Khalid al-Aruri was released by Iran together with other high level al-Qa'ida leaders including Sayf al-Adl, Abu Khayr al-Masri and Abu Mohammed al-Masri.[11][12]

According to Jihadi messages on social media Khalid al-Aruri has traveled to Syria since his release and is reorganising Jabhat al-Nusra.

References

  1. ↑ https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/05AMMAN5995_a.html
  2. ↑ Jean Charles Brisard and Damien Martinez, Zarqawi: The New Face of Al Qaeda (Cambridge 2005) p 22
  3. ↑ Mohammed M. Hafez, Suicide bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom (Washington DC 2007) p. 255
  4. ↑ Mohammed M. Hafez, Suicide bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom (Washington DC 2007) p. 255
  5. ↑ Jean Charles Brisard and Damien Martinez, Zarqawi: The New Face of Al Qaeda (Cambridge 2005) p 170
  6. ↑ “Colin Powell’s Case Before the U.N.” The Washington Post, February 5, 2003, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/flash/world/powell/slides/powell_slideshow.html; Slide 40-43
  7. ↑ Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, Al Qaeda Weapons of Mass Destruction Threat: Hype or Reality? Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, January 2010; http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/al-qaeda-wmd-threat.pdf
  8. ↑ FBIS, Detained Al-Qa'ida Leader Sayf al-Adl Chronicles Al-Zarqawi's Rise in Organization, Jihadist Websites, Arabic, 21 May 2005
  9. ↑ Jean Charles Brisard and Damien Martinez, Zarqawi: The New Face of Al Qaeda (Cambridge 2005) p 38
  10. ↑ http://metransparent.net/news/en/al-qaidas-external-operations-unit-is-back/
  11. ↑ Rukmini Callimachi and Eric Schmitt, Iran Released Top Members of Al Qaeda in a Trade, New York Times, September 17, 2015; http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/world/middleeast/iran-released-top-members-of-al-qaeda-in-a-trade.html?_r=0
  12. ↑ Adam Goldman, Top al-Qaeda operatives freed in prisoner swap with Iran, The Washington Post, September 18, 2015; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/top-al-qaeda-operatives-freed-in-prisoner-swap-with-iran/2015/09/18/02bc58e2-5e0c-11e5-9757-e49273f05f65_story.html
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