Muhannad

Khaled Youssef Mohammed al-Emirat, (خالد يوسف محمد العميرات) more commonly known as Muhannad (; Mukhannad or Mukhanad, ), and also known as Abu Anas , (1969 – 11 April 2011), was a Jordanian militant fighting in Chechnya. Following the death of Abu Hafs al-Urduni on 26 November 2006, he was named leader of the battalion of foreign fighters once commanded by the notorious Saudi-born Ibn al-Khattab.

He was a native of Jordan who served (achieving the rank of Lieutenant) in the Jordanian Air Force and who also underwent military training in the United States this is not considered to be true. Also, some resources say that he was Saudi, He was killed by Russian security forces outside the village of Serzhen-Yurt, Chechnya on 21 April 2011.

Early life

Although little is reliably known of Muhannad's early life, he was born in 1969 and hailed from the Zarqa area of Jordan.

Rebel activity Muhannad arrived in the Caucasus in 1999 during the early days of the Second Chechen War, attempting to pass through Georgia into Chechnya. Upon arrival in the Pankisi Gorge – a mountainous valley in northeastern Georgia inhabited mostly by ethnic Chechens known as Kists – Muhannad waited almost two years for his opportunity to cross the border. The following month, Abu Hafs al-Urduni - the successor to Abu al-Walid (killed in 2004) and Khattab (killed in 2002) as commander of the Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya - was killed by Russian forces in Dagestan, leading to Muhannad's unanimous appointment as the new Emir on 9 December 2006. It is likely that in this same time period, he became the key facilitator connecting Chechen separatists to financial supporters in the Middle East. Interfax, however, refuted Muhannad's death the same day, saying it was a different militant.

According to different sources, Muhannad took part in attacks on Russian security forces in eastern Chechnya in 2008 and in western Chechnya along the border with Ingushetia in 2009. when he followed that with a declaration on 6 April appointing Umalat Magomedov (also known as al-Bara) to the role of Emir of the Dagestan Front, it suggested that Muhannad had a larger profile within the Caucasus Emirate than most believed a foreign fighter could attain, and that he had the legitimate ability to influence decisions made by Umarov. The audacious operation was ultimately defeated after several hours of heavy fighting that resulted in the deaths of twelve militants and five security officers. However, just three days later Umarov would retract his resignation, leading to confusion over who was actually in control of the North Caucasus insurgency. On 12 August, a video posted on a Russian militant website appeared featuring Muhannad, Khuseyn Gakayev, Vadalov, and Tarkhan Gaziev; in it, the four veteran field commanders alleged that Umarov's renunciation was disrespectful to his subordinates, and while they still pledged allegiance to the Caucasus Emirate, they no longer supported him. According to Muhannad, the primary reason for the mutiny was Umarov's disobedience of the mujahideen shura council's consensus that he step down; in response, Saifullah Gubdenski - leader of the Dagestani fighters - fiercely condemned Muhannad by accusing him and his foreign predecessors of "neglecting the aspirations of local rebel leaders" and lashing out at the "outsiders' selfish desire to install their men in leading positions in traditionally parochial" Caucasian militant groups. who promptly split into groups of "two or three" so as to avoid capture. Ramzan Kadyrov also claimed that Muhannad only weighed around 50 kilograms at the time of his death, using this as proof that the insurgency was having "serious difficulties with the supply of food" and was "on the verge of starvation."

A July 2011 rapprochement by the feuding separatist factions re-aligned Gakayev, Vadalov, and numerous other field commanders who had previously forsworn their oaths of loyalty to Umarov; Muhannad's death is thought to have paved the way to reconciliation between the two sides.