Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis

Jamal Ja'far Muhammad Ali Al Ibrahim (Arabic: جمال جعفر محمد علي آل إبراهيم Jamāl Jaʿfar Muḥammad ʿAlīy ʾĀl ʾIbrāhīm, 16 November 1954 – 3 January 2020), known by the kunya Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (Arabic: أبو مهدي المهندس, lit.'Father of Mahdi, the Engineer') was an Iraqi commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). At the time of his death, he was deputy chief of the PMF and regarded as one of Iraq's most powerful men.

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis
أبو مهدي المهندس
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis
Deputy Chairman of Popular Mobilization Committee
In office
15 June 2014  3 January 2020
Secretary-General of Kata'ib Hezbollah
In office
October 2003  3 January 2020
Succeeded byAhmad al-Hamidawi
Member of Iraqi Parliament
In office
2006–2007
Personal details
Born
Jamal Ja'far Muhammad Ali Al Ibrahim

(1954-11-16)16 November 1954
Abu Al-Khaseeb, Basra Governorate, Kingdom of Iraq
Died3 January 2020(2020-01-03) (aged 65)
Baghdad Airport Road, Baghdad International Airport, Baghdad Governorate, Iraq
Manner of deathAssassination
Political partyIslamic Dawa Party (1977–2020)
Other political
affiliations
Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (1985–2020)
CommitteesAxis of Resistance
Military service
Allegiance Iraq
Branch/servicePopular Mobilization Forces
Years of service1979–2020
RankCommander
Unit Kata'ib Hezbollah
Badr Brigade (Formerly)
Battles/wars

From 1977, he was an opponent of Saddam Hussein. He became the commander of volunteer militias that grew from the need to combat ISIS, including the Kata'ib Hezbollah militia group, which is designated a terror organisation by the governments of Japan, the US and the UAE; and prior to that worked with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps against Saddam's regime. Muhandis was on the United States list of designated terrorists.

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. However, this has been disputed due to his role in combating the Ba’ath Party regime rather than supporting it (via attacking Kuwait). The charges were dropped when the new Iraqi government was formed in 2004. The organisations he oversaw, such as the Popular Mobilization Forces have been reported to have close links to the IRGC's Quds Force.

He was tracked down and killed by a targeted U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport on 3 January 2020, which also killed the head of Iran’s expeditionary Quds Force Qasem Soleimani.

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