Top Iraqi Jihadist Killed in Syria Suicide Bombing

Maysr al-Jabouri, a leading Iraqi jihadist widely known by the alias “Abu Maria al-Qahtani,” was killed on Thursday by a suicide bomber. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing, but the rival militants of the Islamic State are the most likely suspects.

Qahtani was a former Iraqi insurgent who fought against U.S. troops in the early 2000s. He migrated to Syria and became a co-founder of Jabhat al-Nusra, also known as the Nusra Front — al-Qaeda’s franchise in Syria during the long and bloody civil war against dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The Nusra Front eventually sought to distance itself from al-Qaeda, rebranding itself as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2016. HTS became one of the most powerful elements of the loose anti-Assad jihadi coalition after international attention turned to the rising Islamic State and the “caliphate” it carved from captured territory in Syria and Iraq. 

In August 2023, Qahtani fell out with HTS, which suspended him from its leadership for “improper use of social media and external communications.” The terrorist group he co-founded imprisoned him for about seven months until he was acquitted on March 7.

The precise circumstances of his downfall were a bit murky, but he was suspended shortly after a close associate named Abu Yazan al-Dairi was accused of communicating with the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition in Syria. Qahtani became an outspoken critic of al-Qaeda around the time of the Nusra Front / HTS schism, so some observers saw his suspension as revenge by al-Qaeda loyalists. 

The Assad regime ultimately prevailed in the Syrian civil war with help from Russia and Iran, but HTS and some other jihadi groups still control some territory in Syria. HTS currently controls about half of Syria’s Idlib province. 

The local population has been protesting against the harsh misrule of the jihadis, who have brought widespread starvation and poverty to the towns they control. HTS and its current leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, responded with harsh crackdowns on protesters and the murder of dissenters.

Qahtani was at his house in the Idlib town of Sarmada on Thursday when the suicide bomber reportedly entered his guesthouse and detonated an explosive vest. Qahtani and several of his houseguests were reportedly taken to the Bab al-Hawa Hospital in Idlib, where Qahtani succumbed to his wounds.

HTS issued a “martyrdom statement,” lamenting Qahtani’s death and pinning blame on the Islamic State.

“Sheikh Abu Mariya al-Qahtani was martyred as a result of a treacherous attack carried out using an explosive belt by an element affiliated with the ISIS terrorist organization,” the jihadi group said.