From the Biographies of the Distinguished Martyrs: (13) Abu Faris al-Ansari
We come to the thirteenth “distinguished martyr,” an Iraqi jihadist by the name of Abu Faris al-Ansari. He was originally an officer, specifically a captain, in the Baathist intelligence services. Abu Ismail al-Muhajir does not tell us whether or not Abu Faris knew any Salafis while working for the intelligence services. We are told that Abu Faris “straightened his path” after the fall of Saddam Husayn, suggesting that his views were “deviant” by Salafi standards. This makes his enthusiastic entry into the jihadist movement that much more remarkable. Muhajir notes that Abu Faris gave the impression of having always been a jihadist. This would strongly suggest that Abu Faris never particularly adhered to Baathist ideology. He would not have been unique in this regard. From the early 1990s, Iraqi Baathism experienced a crisis of legitimacy both in and out of the party, which even the Baathist government sheepishly admitted in private.
In any case, Abu Faris quickly became a key leader in the Iraqi jihadist scene. His first activities were in Fallujah, where he led the first insurgent assault on the local security directorate headquarters. Muhajir ascribes great importance to this event, as it apparently gave confidence to the broader Iraqi jihadist scene to seize cities and attack police. It is plausible that Abu Faris came into contact with Umar Hadid at this time and began coordinating with him, as both were in Fallujah in this period. Abu Faris also personally orchestrated the Shahin Hotel bombing, on 28 January, 2004, which involved a 500-pound bomb, disguised in an ambulance. Most importantly, he led a special unit of foreign fighters and Iraqi insurgents that operated on the highways in western Iraq, particularly the highways leading to Jordan and Syria. We are told that they were based in a “camouflaged location” in the desert, where their task was to strike patrols on the highways. Readers may recall that Thamir Mubarak ‘Atruz (who makes a cameo here) led a similar unit in the deserts surrounding Fallujah. Muhajir notes Abu Faris’s keen knowledge of the terrain. It seems that Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (JTJ) delegated tasks that required intimate local knowledge to Iraqis such as ‘Atruz and Abu Faris. Further, note that in addition to ‘Atruz and Hadid, Abu Faris is the third Iraqi documented by Muhajir to be a high-ranking JTJ member. This indicates that the group was already “Iraqifying” its top ranks by 2004. Indeed, the US military assessed that JTJ was a predominantly Iraqi organization in the rank-and-file by that same year. As I have repeatedly emphasized, Zarqawi’s network was not comprised of foreign fighters for very long. It quickly and seemingly easily integrated with a fringe but competent local jihadist movement in Iraq. Indeed, despite the Iraqi Baath having gone the farthest in eliminating sectarian identity, Iraq was not free of jihadist organizations. The Islamic State cannot be reduced to Zarqawi’s foreign network–its Iraqi origins are represented by men like Abu Faris.
In the name of God, the most Gracious, the most Merciful
Abu Faris al-Ansari:
He is the valiant leader and the brave hero, the daring and courageous man of difficult situations and rare feats. I am referring to Abu Faris (Abdul Sattar Muhammad Faras), from the island of Ramadi, from the Albu Ubayd tribe. Speaking about this mountain of a man is lengthy, though describing him is difficult. However, with Abu Faris, I became more certain that precedence is a matter of character, not of time. Before his commitment to the cause, Abu Faris was a captain in the intelligence services. He straightened his path after the fall of the tyrant Saddam's regime. Indeed, the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was true about him: "The best among you in the days of ignorance are the best among you in Islam, provided they attain understanding." Abu Faris knew monotheism [tawhid], drank from its well, and learned its lessons in the field: {As for those who strive in Us, We will surely guide them to Our paths. [29:69]} He understood the lesson and internalized it, then began to apply its letters and meanings. He then aligned himself with the words of God Almighty: {And fight against the disbelievers collectively as they fight against you collectively. [9:36]}
The first time I saw Abu Faris was in his home on the island. At first glance, I thought he was a farmer with no share of education or schooling. When people sat on the couch, he sat on the floor, serving the people when they ate. I saw him striving to serve his brothers, as if he were their servant. I thought he was older due to the baldness at the front of his head, but when I asked him about his age, he said he was born in 1970. Later, I learned from his brave and daring brother, Sa’ad, that his older brother, Abu Faris, had been a captain in the intelligence services. I said, “Glory be to God! It is as if this man never experienced the days of ignorance. Glory be to God! Was he really in the intelligence services?" And just four months after his commitment–Glory be to God–he divided morals as one divides provisions. I bear witness that Abu Faris was wealthy, but then I saw the brave and daring Abu Faris, the leader without equal. One of his brothers said about him: "The bullet fears Abu Faris, not the other way around."
The martyred leader personally oversaw many offensive operations, and the credit belongs to God and then to men like Abu Faris for changing the course of jihad in Iraq. He turned its direction and bent its neck towards an unstoppable and endless path in Iraq and beyond. Abu Faris was the leader and planner of the most important operation that changed the course of jihad in Iraq in general and in Fallujah in particular. He was the planner and leader of the first operation to storm Fallujah, known here as the "Directorate of Security and the District Headquarters" operation. The entrances to Fallujah were sealed, and he and his brothers stormed the security directorate. He told me that upon entering, he found a police officer so overcome with fear and cowardice that he was lying on the ground, crying and screaming before a single bullet was fired into his head. This is not the place to describe the operation, but the point is that this operation emboldened the brothers to occupy cities. It was an important experience in testing themselves and identifying weaknesses and shortcomings. It also disciplined the police apparatus in Fallujah, to the extent that it became a historical reference point. People say: "This event happened before the police incidents, and this after." Even the American Security Council convened to study the effects and outcomes of this battle. For the record, our hero was wounded in this operation by a bullet in his thigh, but he did not rest for a single day. I saw him serving his brothers while dragging his leg. I would say, "Rest, Abu Faris," and he would reply, "It is easy, and I am not tired."
Then the hero participated–I mean, led–several operations afterward. I remember he was in the operation of the Shahin Hotel, where the car bomb was an ambulance. He was the one who drove it after rigging it to the target area. He went back and forth several times, and I never noticed the slightest hesitation or fear in him. I recall that once there was a traffic jam, and the hero simply turned on the ambulance siren and cleared the way for himself, laughing–may God have mercy on him.
The Shahin Hotel Operation
That bold and successful operation, which claimed the lives of dozens of American intelligence officers and investigators, including the head of Middle East intelligence. But as usual, the results of the operation were kept under wraps. Then the hero led a group of immigrants [muhajirin]1 and supporters [ansar],2 choosing for them a well-camouflaged location in the desert. I remember sitting with this group for two weeks in the desert, and by God, I have never seen anyone braver or more affectionate, loving, and united than them.
I witnessed with my own eyes the leader Abu Faris's dedication to his brothers. I once participated with him in a mission to cut off a highway from a patrol, as this was their task–to paralyze the highway. By "highway," I mean the main road connecting Baghdad to the Syrian and Jordanian borders. I saw the man go on his own first, scouting and determining the best location for the ambush. He meticulously planned, knowing the position of each group and their leader, their attack and withdrawal plans, the communication method between the groups, the attack signal, the withdrawal order, the arrangement of weapons from where the firing would start, the color of the clothes and shoes used, and even the camouflage of the cars, starting with their color and ending with the removal of interior and rear lights. Since the operation was at night, Abu Faris did not forget the road signs, the guide, and the distance between each individual and each group, and so on. This indicates his intelligence, experience, and excellent organization, and he was indeed so.
Then the events in Fallujah escalated, and the brothers decided to prevent the Americans from entering Fallujah after the operation to change the forces in the Anbar region, replacing them with Marine forces. Orders were issued to the groups, including Abu Faris's group, to leave the desert and come to the city to begin guarding the city at night and setting up ambushes during the day. This situation continued until the operation that shook the world occurred–the killing of the four American planning officers, falsely referred to as contractors. I saw with my own eyes how a donkey dragged them through the streets of Fallujah after they were hung in a clever manner on the iron bridge, built by the British and one of the city's most important and oldest landmarks.
I remember that day I was sitting in one of the shops in the industrial area when the martyred hero, Hajj Thamir–mentioned earlier–came in, his face filled with a smile and joy evident. He said:
"Look..." and threw me a bundle of papers. I quickly flipped through them, and they were American passports and credit cards for American banks in Kuwait. I saw the entry stamp for Kuwait for one of them from five days ago. The translation showed that the four killed were planning and training officers who came as contractors to devise the brilliant plan for storming Fallujah. Waiting for them was a vegetable seller who dragged them with his donkey, which he used to haul market waste after work.
The pace of events accelerated, and the Americans attacked Fallujah, starting their assault from the industrial area because it was the weakest point for the mujahidin, being difficult to control. It is a large industrial area, very exposed to aircraft, with no residents, making it easy to strike any moving target. At night, at two o'clock, the mujahidin brigades clashed with the Americans, and the battle intensified. The mujahidin stood firm, sacrificing their bodies for the sake of religion. The heroes advanced with no shields but their chests filled with certainty and faith, their state saying, "So let not the eyes of the cowards sleep." The pigs rained down on the mujahidin with a barrage of bullets and cluster bombs. Our hero, the leader, was fatally wounded. He drove his car himself towards the hospital, but on the way, he was met by the martyred hero, the great lion Jamal from al-Khalidiya, who took over driving and placed him in the car's trunk as his pain intensified. At the hospital's entrance, the Americans came from all directions, their weapons' fire burning everything. Several bullets pierced the body of the heroic leader, announcing the beginning of a new life free from all hardship and fatigue. May Abu Faris remain an example to be followed and a towering mountain. The surprise was in the will he left behind. After advising his wife and children, he instructed that no brother of his who worked as a policeman should walk in his funeral, saying he is innocent of anyone who allows it. Let the world know that Abu Faris is a teacher of good, an imam of guidance, and a lamp of faith, wether alive or dead. May God have mercy on you, Abu Faris. We were deeply grieved by your loss, for no eye has seen the like of you, and your place remains vacant. I ask God to compensate us with good for you, to raise your rank, and to elevate your status as the banner of jihad and monotheism was raised high. Amen.
Written by:
Abu Ismail al-Muhajir
Foreign fighers
Local Iraqi jihadists