"Lions of the Ansar in the Land of Two Rivers" – Part 2
The story of the Rawah Camp, as told by original co-founder Abu Muhammad al-Salmani
Mahmud Qul Aghasi aka Abu al-Qa'qa’
In the second half of the story, Abu Muhammad al-Salmani details the process by which the accused Syrian spy, Abu Mu’adh, was apprehended and interrogated (or tortured). He identifies the intelligence cell to which Abu Mu’adh belonged and their role in Iraq. Salmani's account of Abu Mu'adh's counter-insurgent role is highly revealing but problematic given that Abu Mu'adh underwent torture during his interrogation. The most scandalous claims, like his supposed collaboration with Mossad, can be dismissed as fraudulent, as Salmani outright states that Abu Mu'adh only "confessed" to this after torture. Other claims, such as Abu Mu'adh's direct chain-of-command, are much more plausible since we can corroborate them with open source information. So what do we find out?
Abu Mu'adh's counterparts in Syria were all intelligence agents working to smuggle foreign fighters into Iraq. This is likely given the extensive evidence of the Assad regime facilitating this traffic. His exact role was apparently to bring jihadists into Iraq, identify jihadist cells, and direct them to training camps, the locations of which he would then share with the Coalition to launch air strikes. Particularly talented or dangerous jihadists would be arrested en route to Iraq.
In one incident, one of Salmani's comrades, an Abu Usama, had gone to Arabia to recruit fighters and fundraise. He successfully recruited two jihadists who had struck the USS Cole in Yemen. This is another significant data point in the long overlap between Al Qaida networks in Arabia (AQAP in various iterations) and the jihadist movement in Iraq. Other narratives of the early Iraqi jihad highlight a disproportionate Yemeni jihadist contribution. In any event, these Yemeni recruits were arrested in Syria. To find the missing recruits, Salmani's group dispatched another fighter, this time a Syrian (Abu Qaswara). He was also arrested, and he was interrogated by an intelligence officer he claims was Mahmud Qul Aghasi aka Abu al-Qa'qa' (here also called Abu al-Ja'ja'). It is worth digressing about this strange individual.1
Aghasi was a firebrand Syrian cleric based in Aleppo who incited young men to fight the Americans and facilitated foreign fighter traffic into Iraq through his group Ghuraba al-Sham (“Strangers of the Levant”). From the beginning, his role as a cleric was suspicious, as the Syrian state had long been extremely hostile to any form of Sunni Islamism. Aghasi’s militant rhetoric begged the question as to why he was allowed to operate so freely. That his rhetoric notably omitted the Syrian state–a deeply hated enemy of jihadists–made him all the more suspicious. Jihadists suspected Aghasi to be a Mukhabarat agent working to divert young men into organizations monitored, if not controlled, by the Assad regime. Another version of the theory posited that Aghasi was a useful fool, who was protected, but not necessarily controlled, by the Syrian state because his actions supported its aims. In insurgent circles, this is called “encapsulation,” whereby an organization is all but directly controlled by the authorities because its own culture and decision-making is sufficiently destructive that no direction is necessary.2
I suspect that both versions of the theory are correct but for different periods of time. Aghasi was likely encapsulated for about three years (2003-06), meaning he was personally sincere during that time but was instrumentalized by the Assad regime. Then, some time in 2006, a group of his followers attempted to attack a government office, putting him in the regime’s sights. Around this time, Aghasi gave up his militant rhetoric and became highly supportive of the state, denouncing jihadism and urging moderate political Islam. At this point, he likely became an active Mukhabarat operative. Indeed, Aghasi even abandoned jihadist fashion tastes and developed a penchant for expensive watches and Mercedes Benzes. Most suspiciously, he had a new full-time team of bodyguards who traveled everywhere with him.
In all but name, Aghasi had become a spy, and according to Abu Muhammad al-Salmani, he had personally interrogated a Syrian jihadist attempting to enter Iraq. To my knowledge, this is the only known report of Aghasi actually working as an intelligence agent, as everything else is inferences based on highly suspicious facts. Interestingly, this would suggest that Aghasi had been an intelligence agent, not just an encapsulated cleric, during the entire time he was active in jihadist and Islamist circles.
What do we make of the Abu Mu’adh and Aghasi episodes in the history of the Iraqi insurgency? It highlights the Syrian state’s close but wary relationship with the jihadists from early on. The state sought to send them into Iraq and facilitate their attacks to bog down the Americans, but it did not want them to become so strong that they would one day endanger Syria. In addition to Aghasi’s Ghuraba al-Sham, there was Jund al-Sham, an encapsulated Syrian jihadist group which trafficked hundreds, if not thousands, of fighters but periodically skirmished with Syrian authorities. It is plausible that men like Abu Mu’adh penetrated the ranks of Jund al-Sham and other groups like it. However, Jund’s occasional attacks on the Syrian state meant it could become a loose cannon. This is where Aghasi became particularly useful. As a Mukhabarat agent, there was no risk of him going off the rails. He would fulfill the regime’s aims in Iraq without the danger of one day turning guns against his leaders. During the 2000s, one could justifiably view the Assad regime’s strategy as quite brilliant, but given recent events, the regime’s arrogant stupidity was quite astonishing. One of the young men inspired by Aghasi was none other than Ahmad al-Shara’, better known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani. The main organization that the regime supported, AQI, later morphed into Islamic State, which very nearly toppled Assad and which supported the man (Julani) who did in fact topple Assad. If nothing else, Julani’s life doubles as a history of Middle Eastern geopolitics and parapolitics since 2003.
I returned to my family in one of the villages, and I told no one what had happened. My mother, an elderly woman, would often wait for me and constantly ask about me and the brothers. She had met with some of the brothers–Abu Muhammad al-Lubnani loved her dearly, as did Abu Anas al-Shami after we met him following those events.
She was always awaiting my return. When I arrived, I didn’t tell her anything. I just said, “There’s nothing, mother.” But after that catastrophe, thoughts began to haunt me. I wrestled with myself, with the whispers of Satan. I would ask myself: “What happened?” It was a terrifying event. Sometimes I would sit alone and wonder: “Is it possible that jihad will ever return? Has everything truly ended? Is it all over?”–question after question…
But praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, for He eased our burden, and my heart found some peace. Then I began consulting with Abu Muhammad al-Lubnani, Abu al-Qasim, and Abu Usama. Thanks be to God, we were able to return to the mission at hand.
The next day, I went to the brothers and found them at the location where I had left them. I asked, “Has anyone come to see you?” They replied, “Yes, Abu Mu‘adh came to us!”
I exclaimed, “Subhanallah! What brought him here? How did he even know where you were?”
They asked, “Why? Is something wrong?”
I answered, “Yes, some of us suspect he is the one behind what happened!”
They said in disbelief, “Could it be?!”
I said, “Yes, it could be! We must leave this place right away.”
So I took the brothers and relocated them to another area. Then I went to the city of Al Qaim, to the house of one of the brothers. I knocked on the door, and Abu Walid answered and welcomed me in. I was about to step inside when I asked, “Who’s here?”
He said, “Abu Mu‘adh, and so-and-so, and so-and-so…”
I said, “Then I will not come in.”
He asked, “Why not?”
I replied, “I will not come in. But my dear brother, I need something from you. I want you to keep an eye on Abu Mu‘adh, and don’t let him travel to Syria again.”
He asked, “Why? What’s going on?”
I said, “It’s nothing.”
He insisted, “You have to tell me. He might try to leave. Something could happen…”
I told him, “Watch him closely. We suspect he’s the one responsible.”
He said, “Brother, that’s hard to believe! He’s a serious brother, a scholar, a jurist. He would never do such a thing!”
I said, “Spare me this nonsense. Just do as I say.”
He said, “Alright, brother.”
At that moment, Abu Umar came out and asked, “What’s going on?”
I said, “Abu Walid will explain. I’m leaving. But know this: If Abu Mu‘adh escapes, I will hold you responsible–and you’ll take his place.”
They replied, “Understood.”
I returned to the villages with Abu Muhammad and Abu al-Qasim, and we consulted on several matters. I asked Abu Muhammad al-Lubnani to make some calls to gather more information about Abu Mu‘adh: who he was, how he entered, where he studied, and so on. I also contacted some shaykhs I was in touch with, and asked them about the funds they had sent–how much each time?
One of the shaykhs told me he had sent $12,000, but only $3,000 ever made it through. Another time, he sent $40,000, and again, only a small portion was delivered.
I asked about the young men working with Abu Mu‘adh in Syria, those helping smuggle brothers into Iraq. I discovered that four of them were intelligence officers! One was a communist; the rest, I don’t know, perhaps Alawites or something of the sort. Among them were Abu Jamal, Abu Khalid, Abu Ahmad, and others.
I sent one of the brothers to Syria, and he brought back Abu Mu‘adh’s passport, his address, the names of his brothers–everything.
I returned to the villages with Abu Muhammad and Muhammad, and we consulted about the matter. I told him–it was around 3:00 a.m. at that time–"You and Abu al-Qasim, take one of the brothers with you and bring Abu Mu'adh here!" They replied, "At your command. We'll go." They left and came back before sunrise, and with them was Abu Mu'adh.
I gathered the muhajirin at the house. Among them were Abu Tamam, Muhammad al-Jazrawi, Abu al-Zubayr, Abu Abdul-Rahman, Abu Fayyad, and many others. We consulted about what to do.
When the brothers came in with Abu Mu'adh, he sat apart from everyone, as if he had done something wrong–like he already knew what was going on. I asked about this, and they told me: Abu Umar had told him that the brothers suspected him of being the culprit.
Abu Mu'adh responded, saying, "Whoever suspects me will be punished! He will be put on trial! I will deal with him!"
Just then, Abu Tamam, who was outside making wudu [ablutions], walked in holding a towel or washcloth. When he saw Abu Mu'adh in front of him, he hit him with the towel, shouting, “Watch yourself! Don’t look at us like that! Those looks will get you in trouble!” Then he lunged at Abu Mu'adh.
I told him, “Leave him, Abu Tamam! This isn’t the time. Not now. We will deal with it later.”
We left the house after breakfast and went to a nearby village, where we tied him to a tree, blindfolded and restrained. I left some of the brothers to guard him while we gathered more information to verify his guilt.
I returned with Abu Muhammad al-Lubnani and Abu al-Qasim. We spoke to the brother overseeing the young men, Abu Ubaydah, who owned the place. He wasn’t officially part of the group yet, but his spirit was aligned with us. He was eager to join and help the cause, but he smoked cigarettes. He used to ask me to let him join the group, but I and Abu Muhammad al-Lubnani would tell him: “You have to quit smoking first.”
He said, “Is that the only thing preventing me?”
We replied, “Yes, and a stronger commitment too.”
He said, “Inshallah, I will.”
We left the area and went to gather more information. We verified details about the funds, his lineage, and even obtained his passport and photos. Around that time, he had also changed his appearance, shaving his beard completely and wearing a uniform similar to that of the Americans or the military police. We were shocked by his appearance, but didn’t comment on it.
Before leaving, I told the brothers, “Try to ask him some questions. Maybe he’ll give us something useful.”
While we were away, I got a call from one of the brothers. He said, “I sent you $4,000 with Abu Mu'adh.” I told him, “By God, he never gave it to me! But I will look into it.”
We returned the next day to the location where the brothers were keeping him. Abu Ubaydah met us and said: “Brothers, go check on your people, they’re about to split apart because of that traitor!”
He used to have funny expressions. He even said, “And they threw him into the bottom of the well!”–we laughed.
But when we reached the brothers, we indeed found them split into two groups: one group wanted to release him, and the other refused, saying we had to be cautious.
We said, “Brothers, what’s going on? Don’t you have an emir? Are you not bound to listen and obey?”
They said, “Yes, but what’s the justification for detaining and imprisoning him?”
We told them, “You’ll hear now what he did. We've gathered plenty of evidence indicating he is the one responsible.”
Before this, I had asked Abu Usama: “On the day of the bombing, did anyone come to the camp? Did anyone unfamiliar show up?”
He said, “Yes! A man named Abu Awf, a medic assistant, came to the camp that day. The brothers were exhausted, so he told them, ‘I’ll keep watch while you all rest.’ So the brothers slept, and we didn’t know what he did. The next day, he insisted on leaving, saying, ‘I need to go to Baghdad to get medical supplies and medicine.’ The brothers let him go.”
I asked, “How did he get into the camp? Who gave him permission?”
He said, “He got approval from Abu Anas, and some of the brothers in Rawah vouched for him and brought him in. Abu Raghd also approved his entry.”
At that time, Abu al-Abbas al-Jazrawi arrived. He had been wounded in his knees. We asked him what had happened. (At the time of the bombing, Abu Raghd, Abu Yunus, Abu Hakim, Abu Abdullah al-Madani, and Abu Waqas al-Iraqi were in Rawah.)
He said: “The brothers were with me. The bombing began while we were in Rawah. We weren’t in the camp.”
We asked him to describe it in detail. He said:
“Abu Raghd stood up and asked, ‘Who will pledge allegiance to death?’
And we all said together: ‘We pledge allegiance to death!’
Then he said to me, ‘Brother Abu al-Abbas, you will stay here because you’re injured. But I leave you with a will:
’If we do not return alive, do not trust any of the ansar [local Iraqis] from the camp–except for Abu Muhammad and Abu Usama.”
I took the brothers and we went to Abu Mu'adh to interrogate him. I told Abu Tamam, “Ask him some questions,” and I even gave him a few questions to ask and said, “Ask him, I won't speak.”
So Abu Tamam questioned him, but he didn’t answer. Abu Tamam struck him, but he still wouldn’t answer. He said, “I won’t speak until Abu Muhammad, the emir, arrives!”
I said, “Fine. Talk. I’m here.”
He said, “My brother, Abu Muhammad, you know me! Why are you doing this?”
I replied, “I’m doing this because I know you! You said many things, including that I’m not fit for leadership! You didn’t say that to me–you said it to Abu Umar, and he told me about it. You said, word-for-word, that I’m ‘unfit to lead the camp,’ that I’m ‘too soft-hearted,’ that my ‘specialty is in Qur’an studies,’ and that I ‘lack military skill and wisdom.’”
I added, “I know I’m not qualified for this role–but this is what we have! And who told you that a leader has to be a brute or cruel? The Qur’an says: ‘For the believers, he is compassionate and merciful.’ [9:128] It doesn’t say he’s a torturer or a harsh man! And the Qur’an also says: ‘Harsh against the disbelievers, merciful among themselves.’ [48:29] It does not say harsh against the believers! And elsewhere it says: ‘They are humble with the believers, mighty against the disbelievers...’ [5:54]
So he replied, “Brother, I didn’t mean it that way. I... I...”
I said, “What matters now is that we have some questions to ask you. Do you have any money on you?”
He said, “Yes, I have money, but it’s my own!”
I said, “How much?”
He said, “$4,000.”
I told him, “One of the brothers contacted me and said, ‘I sent $4,000 with brother Abu Mu’adh.’”
He said, “Uhh, well...”
I told him, “Don’t lie! You’re lying! Listen: there were funds sent to you from such-and-such a shaykh, and from another shaykh too. Where is that money? You didn’t deliver it!”
He said, “Brother... uhh...” and began mumbling.
In short, he started dodging, evading, and lying.
We concluded the issue of the money and confirmed he had stolen it–he and the young men who were working with him to smuggle mujahidin into Iraq. We asked about their situation before the events, and people said they were poor, their houses were in bad condition, but now–after these events–their houses had become nice, comfortable, and they even owned cars. Where did that money come from?!
We asked him, “What do you know about Abu al-Qa‘qa‘ (Mahmud Qul Aghasi)?”–I meant Abu al-Ja‘ja‘. Because we had learned from some brothers in the camp–more than ten of them–that they had all trained under him, in physical training, karate, taekwondo, and that they were his students!
We asked them, “What did Mahmud Qul Aghasi do?”
They said, “He used to gather young men with jihadist ideology and strong passion for the religion. He would give them lectures. Then, after a while, they would disappear–no one knew where they went!”
They said, “One day, about 35 jihadist-minded brothers disappeared. Later we found out that the intelligence services had taken them. And that was thanks to the ‘noble shaykh’ Abu al-Ja'ja'!!”
We discovered that he was connected and had graduated from a Mossad intelligence school. We also discovered that Abu Mu‘adh was an intelligence officer, and the people who worked with him were also officers.
Among the questions we asked him: “What is your connection to the Jews?”
He said: “I have no connection.”
I replied, “Yes, you do have a connection–a very close one, too!”
He began to confess, once we began to interrogate him seriously.3
He said: “I used to work on bringing in mujahidin to Iraq–especially those with high-level skills–and once they were here, I would send them into camps. Then we would report them to the American forces, who would come and bomb them by airstrikes.”
During that time and amidst those events, Brother Abu Usama had returned to the Peninsula to bring money and some brothers. He came back with five brothers, making six in total, including two of the brothers who had attacked the American destroyer USS Cole in Yemen! They were captured in Syria–thanks to Ibn Saloul [the son of Saloul],4 Abu Mu'adh. Brother Abu Usama was carrying $100,000 with him. We also sent Brother Abu Qaswara, one of the brothers from Aleppo, to verify what had happened to the brothers in Syria, but he too was arrested! Abu al-Ja'ja' himself interrogated him! He said: "I know him! I wasn't his student, but I know him and recognize his voice well–he interrogated me himself!!" By God's will, Brother Abu Qaswara was eventually released, and after some time, God decreed that Brothers Abu Usama and the others be freed after being imprisoned for several months in Syria before being deported to their home countries, where Brother Abu Usama was imprisoned again.
During the interrogation and among the questions we asked Abu Mu'adh about how the incident happened and what he did to cause that bombing, he said: "I gave Abu Awf several tracking devices and planted them in the camp!" I asked him: "How did you know Abu Awf?" He replied: "I met him a year ago." I asked: "Which agents do you know?" He said: "I know Saud al-Hamdan al-Dulay, who is well-known in al-Karabala, and Ali al-Salum, also an agent. These people work with the American forces! Each of them has recruited seventy people for this work." He said that these individuals had been working with American intelligence since 1990!! During the initial war in Iraq, they provided coordinates for airstrikes on specific locations in Iraq. This person made many dangerous confessions, admitting that he had met Emile Lahoud and Walid Jumblatt–we saw this in his passport with stamps from Lebanon and Iran!! (He had entered Iran!) We continued interrogating him, and that day, the brothers were relieved that we had not been unjust with Abu Mu’adh.
The next day, brother Abu Muhammad al-Lubnani, Abu al-Qasim, and I went to the city for some matters, intending to record and film the interrogation the following day. But when we arrived, we found that he had killed himself and passed away. He had told the brothers that he was killed by poison–he had placed poison in one of his teeth, intentionally filling it after inserting the poison. This is a well-known tactic used by intelligence agencies and the Jewish Mossad–they place poison so that if pressured, the person can break the filling, swallow the poison, and kill themselves without confessing.
We wanted to dispose of the body, and in those days, there were many aircraft–even one day, there were fourteen helicopters searching for him along the riverbanks. We wanted to get rid of the body. Brother Abu Ubaydah said: "I will place explosives on him, weigh him down, and put him in the river!" Brother Abu Tamam had prayed against him: "O God, do not grant him a grave on land or sea or anywhere!!" We lowered him into the water... into the river, but the explosives didn't detonate! The body floated, and we tried again, but it still floated. We left it until one of the brothers said: "By God, I truly believe God has accepted Brother Abu Tamam's supplication!" His body remained floating in the river, eventually colliding and stopping near the bridge in the city of Rawah. People saw the body but couldn't reach it, thinking it was the corpse of an American soldier–he was wearing Marine or military police clothing! This is what happened to Ibn Saloul!!
Among the questions one of the brothers asked him was: "Who are you?!" He replied: "I am Ibn Saloul!" The brother asked: "Do you know where your place is?!" He said: "My place is in the lowest depths of Hell!"
The next day, I told the brothers to try to track Abu Awf, believing he would come to that location under orders from the American forces to verify who had survived the camp. The brothers went to search for and monitor Abu Awf while we went to our places. I was eager to see the brothers in a dream–the brothers who were killed in the camp. That day, after Abu Mu'adh's death, I saw Brothers Abu Raghd, Abu Yunus, and Abu Hakim sitting in a circle, and I was sitting with them! Brother Abu Raghd laughed loudly and said: "Now, Abu Muhammad, now I am at ease!" I hadn't seen him like this before–he had seemed angry about something, sad about something, until Abu Mu'adh was captured and killed.
One of the brothers, Brother Abu Maryam, contacted me and said that Abu Awf had arrived in Rawah city. I told him: "Follow him until Brother Abu Muhammad and Brother Abu al-Qasim reach you." They reached him and brought him handcuffed and blindfolded. I asked them: "Have you confirmed that he wasn't carrying listening devices?!" They said: "No! But we will check now." We took him to one of the houses in the villages and began interrogating him. First, we searched him and found nothing. We asked: "Where are the listening devices you were carrying?!" He said: "I had one device! I left it in Rawah in the house I entered." We asked: "Aren't you carrying another device?!" He said: "No!" We began beating him and interrogating him. He said: "Yes! I was carrying a device between my legs! I think it fell in the car!" So I and one of the brothers went to the car and found the listening device inside. I told him: "Don't speak!" I took it and placed it in... then took it to the desert and destroyed it.
We returned to the house and began interrogating him, and the interrogation was recorded. At first, he didn't confess, but gradually he began to admit that he was the perpetrator. I asked him: "Do you know Abu Mu'adh?!" At first, he said: "I don't know him!" Then later, he said: "Yes, I know him!" I asked: "How did you meet him?!" He said: "I met him a year ago." I asked: "Where?!" He said: "In Baghdad, at the nursing college!" I asked: "Was anyone with you?!" He said: "Yes! There were four of us–three men and one woman. The woman's name was Shaima! She worked as a translator for the American forces." I verified Abu Awf's identity and discovered that his origins traced back to Jews–and so did Abu Mu'adh! His grandfather's name was Jewish in his passport. We learned this information and realized they originally belonged to the Donmeh Jews in Yemen and had come to Syria years ago!
Abu Awf confessed that he had taken twenty tracking devices and planted them in the camp, distributing them while the brothers were asleep after telling them "I will guard your position!" He said: "I insisted on leaving the camp the next day so I wouldn't be bombed along with the brothers in the camp, using the excuse that I was going to bring medical supplies and medicines!" Abu Awf's confessions were thorough and valuable, providing us with information that he had been working with the notorious Shaykh Abdul Wahab al-Samarrai, the deceiver in Iraq, who tried to trick people by claiming to treat them through "psychological medicine" or similar methods. He was accompanied by a man named Abdul Badi al-Tikriti and many others, all of whom were eliminated in Baghdad by God's grace.
Among the events that occurred and as part of the routine in both the first and second camps, we spent a week eating only seven dates per day. While eating these dates, we remembered the story of the noble companion who said: "Agh.. this is indeed a long life! Nothing stands between me and Paradise except these dates!"–and then threw them from his hands.
He walked with measured steps, like a lover heading to the rendezvous...
The youth were devoted to their work and in their gatherings. We would sit together, reminiscing, remembering and glorifying God, reminding one another of the Hadith, the Quran, and the biography of the Prophet and his Companions. There is a blessed event that must be mentioned. After the camp had been bombed, when the brothers Abu Raghd, along with Abu Yunus, Abu Hakim, Abu Waqas, Abu Ubaydah, and Abu Abdullah al-Madani, gathered together, Abu Raghd asked them: "Who will pledge allegiance to death?" And they all pledged to him. They went to meet the enemy after the camp had been bombed, each of them carrying anti-aircraft missiles such as Strela or Ouchla.
That day, the youth dispersed, each taking his position, ready for battle with the enemy! In the end, they managed to shoot down three planes, including two Chinooks filled with soldiers, and another small helicopter. They also destroyed four armored vehicles. Their encounter with the enemy was one of the fiercest ever recorded; they fought with such valor that it was beyond compare! They exhausted their ammunition, and then they were martyred.
When I went to that place, accompanied by brother Abu Muhammad al-Lubnani and brother Abu al-Qasim, we discovered that one of the planes had been buried in a spot after it had been destroyed. It was still filled with cartridges, blood, and other remnants, and to this day, it remains buried there. We also found a shirt belonging to one of the brothers–I believe it belonged to either Abu Yunus or Abu Hakim, for they both wore the same shirt! We detected a sweet fragrance in it–the scent of musk, a perfume like none we had ever smelled before! We also went to the place where the youth had gathered and found Abu Suhayl’s clothes, which were discovered by his father, Abu Muhammad al-Lubnani, who took them. These clothes too had a sweet fragrance. He took them with him to send to his mother, but fate had it that the owner of the house where we had left the clothes came back, washed them, and placed them in a different spot. Soon after, American forces entered the house, seized the clothes, some pictures, and items that belonged to their work.
The number of youth martyred in the camp was about 86 brothers. As I had previously mentioned, these youth were unparalleled! Their morals were like those of the Companions of the Prophet. I now recall a vision one of the youth had after their martyrdom. He said: "I saw the Prophet, and he told me that these are the finest of creation in this time!"
I mentioned that the number of those martyred exceeded eighty, and some of the youth were captured. Later, we learned that some of them had been released from detention, and some of them carried out martyrdom operations! Likewise, some of the youth who survived also engaged in martyrdom operations and joined their fallen brothers.
During those days, we received news that Abu Usama had been freed from Syria and had returned to his homeland, where he was handed over to the Saudi authorities. After a while, once he had completed his prison sentence, both Abu Usama and Abu al-Abbas (who had received medical treatment) were released. Abu Usama had managed to gather $45,000 at that time, which he brought to Iraq once again. When he left, he did not go to his family! The same happened with Abu al-Abbas! They both entered Iraq, but neither knew that the other had entered the country. They met in Fallujah, fought together, and Abu Usama was martyred in the attack on Abu Ghraib prison or in the assault that almost took place. He was martyred alongside Abu al-Shahid (that is, Abu Muhammad al-Lubnani) and Abu Anas al-Shami. Abu al-Abbas was martyred in another confrontation when a sniper's bullet struck him.
Among the stories I heard from Brother Abu Usama, he once said–while speaking to one of the youth before heading into battle–"O youth! Today, I have a 'Tale' with Brother Abu Raghd!" It was clear that he knew he was about to depart. We ask God Almighty to accept them in the Highest Paradise and in Illiyyun, and to join us with them, for He is most capable of doing so and has power over all things.
Remaining from the youth of the Rawah camp, some of the Ansar stayed behind, along with a few (perhaps three) of the muhajirun who returned to their homelands. Additionally, one of the brothers who had been in Rawah camp traveled to Afghanistan, where he met with the brothers there. I came to know of this through news that reached me via one of the brothers.
At the conclusion of this journey, I would like to say a few words:
O God, make this work solely for Your noble face.
O God, make us among the patient.
O God, make us among the good-doers.
O God, make us among the righteous.
O God, accept this work from us and from our brothers, and gather us with them in the Highest Paradise and in Illiyyun.
May peace and blessings be upon the Prophet, sent as a mercy to the worlds, Muhammad, and upon his family and companions.
And peace be upon you, and the mercy of God and His blessings.
The speaker, the poor servant of God,
Your brother,
Abu Muhammad al-Salmani
The account that follows is based on the following sources: “Who’s who: Abu al-Qaqaa,” The Syrian Observer, 4 October, 2013; Sami Moubayed, “Syria’s Abu al-Qaqa: Authentic Jihadist or Imposter?,” The Jamestown Foundation, 27 June, 2006; Andrew McGregor, “Controversial Syrian Preacher Abu al-Qaqa Gunned Down in Aleppo,” The Jamestown Foundation, 16 October, 2007.
Cf. J. Sakai, Basic Politics of Movement Security (Montreal: Kersplebedeb 2014).
That is to say, torture him.
“Saloul” is a jihadist pejorative for the al-Saud family.