Najim Abdullah al-Jubouri

Najim Abdullah al-Jubouri (; born 28 October 1956) is an Iraqi military officer and politician who served as the Governor of the Nineveh Province from 2019 to 2023. Jubouri rose to prominence during the War in Iraq (2013–2017), when he commanded the Iraqi Ground Forces in the Battle of Mosul.

Early life and career Jubouri was born on 28 October 1956 in Qayyarah, south of Mosul. He received his primary education in Samarra and Kut. He joined the military college in 1976 and graduated from the rank as first lieutenant later in 1979. He participated in Iran–Iraq War and the 1991 Gulf War. He continued to serve in the military until the US invasion of Iraq and subsequent fall of the Hussein regime in 2003. Jubouri was mayor of the city of Tal Afar from June 2005 to 2008, and assisted coalition forces in counter-insurgency operations. His tenure there and cooperation with the U.S. has been described as one of the first clear victories over al-Qaeda in Iraq. having claimed asylum according to his account because he and his family were targeted by al-Qaeda, In 2009, he was a researcher at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., after having graduated that same year. During his time in Washington he had worked with the Near East and Southeast Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, on the recommendation of H. R. McMaster. In addition, while he was the head of Nineveh Operations Command, Jubouri tried to limit the influence of the Popular Mobilization Forces in the region, which included pro-Iranian elements. In May 2019, the Iraqi government announced that Jubouri would step down and retire from the military in June.

Governor of Nineveh He was appointed as Governor of Nineveh in 2019 and remained in office until his resignation in 2023. Jubouri was elected as governor on 24 November 2019, replacing Mansour Mar'ad, who took office following the removal of Nawfal Sultan by the Iraqi parliament earlier that year. He became governor as part of an anti-corruption purge of local officials by the Iraqi government between 2017 and 2019, after the region was liberated from ISIS. While in office he oversaw the reconstruction efforts in the Nineveh province in the aftermath of the war against the Islamic State.

Jubouri, as a former officer in the Ba'athist military, and the provincial police chief of Nineveh were investigated by the government under a 2008 law that prevents former members of the Ba'athist regime from holding political offices. The governor resigned on 26 November 2023, with his resignation accepted by the Prime Minister of Iraq, amidst allegations that he had been a member of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party when he was in the old military. According to the United States Ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romanowski, "a true patriot, he helped Iraq defeat ISIS and supported reconstruction work, including UNESCO efforts to rebuild historic sites in Mosul."