Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri

Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri (; May 1950 – 21 May 1996) was the nom de guerre of Ali Amin al-Rashidi, was a founding member of al-Qaeda and served as the groups first military commander. He was known within the group as the "most capable and popular leaders".

He was the head of al-Qaeda's African presence, overseeing both funding and military operations in the continent, and second in command of the whole organization, below Osama bin Laden.

Biography Al-Rashidi was born in May 1950 in Cairo, and served in the national police force on Egypt. His future brother-in-law was a member of al-Jihad, a precursor to Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and had participated in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat. In the aftermath, Egypt began a crackdown on Islamic extremism and al-Rashidi was briefly arrested for allegedly being part of al-Jihad and was fired from his position in the police. In 1983 he married Hafsah Sa’d Rashwan, the sister of Muhammad Abd al-Salam Faraj wife. Shortly after their marriage, the couple moved to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, living in a home owned by Osama bin Laden. He then travelled to Peshawar, Pakistan to train with the Arab Mujahedeen fighting against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

While there he met Ayman al-Zawahiri, head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, who introduced al-Rashidi to Osama bin Laden, then serving as the chief financer of Maktab al-Khidamat, who was so favorably impressed that he placed him in charge of the training camps for the Afghan Arabs. He also fostered cooperation between the Arab and Afghan Mujahedeen, and was a compatriot of Ahmed Shah Massoud. Together with bin Laden, al-Rashidi lead around 50 Arab volunteers against a Soviet siege in the Paktia province. During the Battle of Jaji, forces under the command of bin Laden and al-Rashidi held out for a week to protect a mujahedeen supply route. Al-Rashidi was wounded after being shot in the leg, and his forces eventually retreated after being overrun by Soviet forces, but the battle was seen as a great victory by bin Laden and his forces, with al-Rashidi being celebrated as a war hero as well. In late 1989, al-Qaeda welcomed in its first recruits at a training camp in the Paktia province of Afghanistan that Al-Rashidi managed. Osama bin Laden, Abu Ayoub al-Iraqi, Jamal al-Fadl, and al-Rashidis second in command, Mohammed Atef, were present as well for a meeting in which they discussed al-Qaeda taking jihad outside of Afghanistan.

At some point al-Banshiri acquired either Dutch citizenship

In spring 1993, al-Rashidi held a meeting with Osama bin Laden during which both agreed that al-Qaeda would target American forces present in Somalia for Operation Gothic Serpent. Following a recon mission into the country by Mohammed Atef, al-Rashidi ordered a portion of the Sudanese cell of al-Qaeda to go to Somalia and offer weapons, training and assistance to any Somalian forces opposed to the UN presence. He also strongly advocated for the eventual attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. A source has claimed that al-Rashidi was attempting to obtain material for a dirty bomb when he drowned and when the brother of Ayman al Zawahiri had informed al-Rashidis wife of his death, he told her that he was making preparations for an attack when he drowned.