The Iraqi Intelligence Service announced the arrest of Abdel Nasser Qardash, the candidate to succeed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to lead the ISIS terrorist organization, according to Sky News Arabia correspondent on Wednesday.
Iraqi state-owned media quoted the Intelligence apparatus as saying that “Today, the terrorist called Abdel Nasser Qardash, the candidate to succeed the criminal al-Baghdadi, has been arrested.”
It is noteworthy that Qardash was one of the candidates to succeed ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi, who was killed by American forces in a raid in the Syrian city of Idlib.
The intelligence service did not reveal any additional details about the arrest of Qardash.
The intelligence statement added that “Qardash held leadership positions in the organization since the days of Al-Zarqawi, and until he served as the head of the delegated committee in the days of al-Baghdadi, and led the battles of al-Baghuz,” according to Iraqi sources.
Qardash was head of security in Syria and Iraq.
He is also called Haji Abdel Nasser al-Iraqi. He was the military leader of ISIS in the Levant state.
ISIS says it is a must that its leader should be descendent from the Quraysh tribe, according to a text in the book of Saheeh al-Bukhari.
He is listed as a Specially Designated Terrorist by the U.S. State Department.
ISIS Leader Abdel Nasser al-Iraqi Profile
His real name is assessed by the United Nations, with low confidence, to be Taha al-Khuwayt, an Iraqi born between 1965 and 1969. If this is correct, then Qardash was born in Tal Afar; his relationship to the Quraysh line is unclear, according to a report published by Eeadicalization website.
The State Department notice issued in December 2018 said Abdel Nasser had, “within the past five years, … served as an ISIS Military Amir in Syria as well as chair of the ISIS Delegated Committee”, the executive council that “exercises administrative control of the terrorist organization’s affairs.
The Delegated Committee is responsible for planning and issuing orders related to ISIS’s military operations, tax collections, religious police, and commercial and security operations.”
It was Abdel Nasser’s signature, as head of the Delegated Committee, on the May 2017 ‘fatwa’ that vastly expanded the definition of heresy before it was revoked later in the year.
Abdel Nasser Qardash is extreme even by ISIS’s standards, in short, according to the European Eye on Radicalization Site.
On March, 2020, “The U.S. Department of State announced its intent to designate Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, the new leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Section 1(a)(ii)(B) of Executive Order 13224, as amended by Executive Order 13886. Al-Mawla is also known as Hajji Abdallah, ‘Abdul Amir Muhammad Sa’id Salbi, and Abu-‘Umar al-Turkmani,”, according to an official release.
Following the death of former ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla succeeded him to become the leader of ISIS. Al-Mawla was active in ISIS’s predecessor organization, al-Qaeda in Iraq, and steadily rose through the ranks of ISIS to become the Deputy Amir. Al-Mawla helped drive and attempt to justify the abduction, slaughter, and trafficking of Yazidi religious minorities in northwest Iraq and oversees the group’s global operations.
Just confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by American troops. Most likely would have taken the top spot – Now he is also Dead!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2019
On Oct. 29, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that “Just confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by American troops. Most likely would have taken the top spot – Now he is also Dead!”
The ISIS confirmed its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. raid, according to the group’s news agency Amaq.
ISIS’s media arm, al-Furqan, released an audio tape later; uncovering Baghdadi’s successor.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi was appointed by ISIS senior leaders to be the group’s new leader
