Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis


Jamal Ja'far Muhammad Ali Al Ibrahim, known by the kunya Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, also spelled Mohandes, was an Iraqi politician and military commander. At the time of his death, he was deputy chief of the Popular Mobilisation Committee. The organisations he oversaw have been reported to have close links to the Quds Force, part of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
He was the commander of the Kataib Hezbollah militia, which is classified by Japan as a terrorist organization, and prior to that worked with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps against the Saddam Hussein regime.
Allegations of terrorism have been levelled against him over his activities in Kuwait in the 1980s. He was sentenced to death in absentia in 2007 by a court in Kuwait for his involvement in the 1983 Kuwait bombings. Muhandis was on the United States list of designated terrorists.
He was killed by a targeted U.S. drone strike at Baghdad International Airport on 3 January 2020, which also killed Iranian Armed Forces Major General Qasem Soleimani.

Biography

Jamal Jaafar al-Ibrahimi was born on 1 July 1954 in Abu Al-Khaseeb District, Basra Governorate, Iraq, to an Iraqi father and an Iranian mother. He finished his studies in engineering in 1977 and in the same year joined the Shia-based Dawa Party, which opposed the Ba'athist government.

Military career

On 1979, after the activity of the Dawa Party was banned and hundreds of opponents were sentenced to death by Saddam Hussein Al-Muhandis fled, across the border to Ahvaz in Iran, where the Iranians had set up a camp to train Iraqi dissidents, with the aim of undermining Saddam. He was known as Jamal al-Ibrahimi in Iran and he became a citizen of Iran by marrying a woman. He began working with Iran's Revolutionary Guard in Kuwait in 1983, organizing attacks on embassies of countries that supported Saddam in the Iran–Iraq War. Hours after the December 1983 bomb attacks on U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait, he fled to Iran. He was later convicted and sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Kuwait for planning the attacks. He was later appointed a military adviser to the Quds Force, advising on attacks against Iraqi military based in his hometown of Basra.
He returned to Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and went on to serve as a security adviser to the first Iraqi prime minister after the invasion, Ibrahim al-Jaafari. In 2005 he was elected to the Iraqi Parliament as a Dawa Party representative for the Babil Governorate. When U.S. officials realised his identity and connection with the 1983 attacks, they raised the issue with then-Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki in 2006 or 2007. He had to flee to Iran. He formed Kata'ib Hezbollah between 2003 and 2007.
He returned to Iraq following the withdrawal of US troops to head the Kata'ib Hezbollah militia; he then became deputy chief of the Popular Mobilization Forces.
On 31 December 2019, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named al-Muhandis, along with Qais Khazali, Hadi al-Amiri, and Falih Alfayyadh, as responsible for the attack on the United States embassy in Baghdad.
with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at a 2017 ceremony commemorating the father of Soleimani, in Musalla, Tehran.
On 3 January 2020, al-Muhandis was killed along with Qasem Soleimani in a U.S. airstrike at Baghdad International Airport.

War against ISIL in Iraq

After the formation of the popular mobilization units as a group in 2014, he was appointed to command the group. The PMF group composed of some 40 militias that fought in nearly every major battle against ISIL. He is still known as a heroic by many Iraqis Because of the effective fight against the Islamic State.

Sanctions

On 2009, al-Muhandis was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury due to his alleged of helping to IRGC.

Death

Abu Mahdi was killed on 3 January 2020 around 1:00a.m. local time, by missiles shot from American drones which targeted Qasem Soleimani and his convoy near Baghdad International Airport.
BBC News, NBC News, DW News, Time, The Guardian and other media outlets have described the killing as an assassination.

Reaction

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group mentioned him as one of the symbols of Iraqi liberation from the US occupation and also condolences to the Iraqi for the death of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Funeral and burial

On 4 January, a funeral procession for Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Soleimani was held in Baghdad with thousands of mourners in attendance, waving Iraqi and militia flags and chanting "death to America, death to Israel". The procession started at the Al-Kadhimiya Mosque in Baghdad. Iraq's prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, and leaders of Iran-backed militias attended the funeral procession. They were taken to the holy Shia cities of Najaf and Karbala were held funeral prayers on them.
He was transferred to Iran for the DNA test. A funeral procession was started from Ahvaz then was taken them to Mashhad. On 6 January, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei held funeral prayers among hundreds of thousands of people and crying in front of the flag-draped coffins for the deceased. On 7 January, his body was returned to Iraq and transferred to his hometown of Basra. His burial was delayed because of the huge crowd at the funeral. On 8 January, Al-Muhandis was buried in Iraq's Najaf where hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their final respects. Funeral processions were also held in several Iraqi cities prior to Najaf, including Baghdad and Karbala.