Abu Mohammad al-Adnani

Abu Muhammad al-Adnani
Photo featured in ISIL propaganda, also used by U.S. State Department, January 2012.
Native name	أبو محمد العدناني
Born	Taha Subhi Falaha 1977 (age 46–47) 1978 (age 45–46) Binnish, Idlib Governorate, Syria
Nationality	Syrian
Occupation	Official spokesman of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Criminal charge	Designated a terrorist by the United Nations Security Council and the US State Department

Abu Muhammad al-Adnani al-Shami (Arabic: أبو محمد العدناني‎‎. born 1977 or 1978), whose original name is Taha Subhi Falaha (طه صبحي فلاحة), is the official spokesperson and a senior leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. He is also the emir of ISIL in Syria. The U.S. State Department Rewards for Justice Program announced a reward up to US$5 million for information leading to his capture on May 5, 2015.

Early life

Al-Adnani was born in 1977 in the town of Binnish in the countryside of the Idlib Governorate, in western Syria. His mother was Khadija Hamed. He lived in the Haditha district of Anbar Province in western Iraq.

Islamist activities

Al-Adnani was reportedly one of the first foreign fighters to oppose Coalition forces in Iraq. In May 2005 he was arrested by the Coalition forces in Al Anbar Governorate in Iraq under a fake name “Yasser Khalaf Hussein Nazal al-Rawi”, and was released in 2010. In December 2012, an Iraqi intelligence official said he was using a number of aliases including “Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, Taha al-Banshi, Jaber Taha Falah, Abu Baker al-Khatab and Abu Sadek al-Rawi.”

On 15 August 2014, the United Nations Security Council approved his addition to the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee’s list of individuals and entities subject to the targeted financial sanctions and the arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2161 (2014), adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

On 18 August 2014, the US State Department listed al-Adnani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

On 22 September 2014, al-Adnani released a speech entitled "Indeed, Your Lord Is Ever Watchful", which was significant because it was the first official instruction by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant for its supporters to kill disbelievers in Western countries. Al-Adnani said in his speech:

If you can kill a disbelieving American or European – especially the spiteful and filthy French – or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him.

On January 4, 2016, Abu Mohammad al-Adnani was reportedly severely injured by an Iraqi airstrike on Barwana, near Haditha, Iraq and was moved to Mosul for recovery.

External links

• Biography
• Abu Mohammad al-Adnani Jihadology