Abu Wahib: Dead or Alive?
Posted on Mon Oct 06, 2014 at 10:25:10 PM EST
Tags: Abu Wahib, ISIS, Iraq, Syria (all tags)
Abu Wahib, as I've written before, is the most recognizable, telegenic and frightening looking ISIS fighter. He is the military commander for the Anbar province in Iraq. He has falsely been declared dead several times, including within the past year.
Yesterday, there were reports by pro-Kurdish tweeters saying he had been killed in Kobane. Others said he was killed in Ramadi.
[More...]
Earlier today, the pro-Iraqi site Iraqi News quoted an official in Anbar named Rashid Fleeh who says Abu Wahib was killed in a strike near Kabisa, 70 miles west of Ramadi, along with "10 other senior ISIS leaders." No photos were released. Later today, the site seemed to either bewalking it back or confirming it, saying the ISIS military leader of Anbar province who was killed near Ramadi was Emad Karim Ghanemi and earlier they had reported it was Abu Wahib. (are they saying they made a mistake or that both were killed?)
This morning, in response to all the conflicting reports yesterday, ISIS posted a photo to show Abu Wahib is very much alive.
Is the photo dated? No. But obviously ISIS would not want to give away his current location. Was the whole thing a setup to get ISIS to confirm he's alive by posting a photo so the U.S. and Iraq could use it to try and pinpoint his current whereabouts? Unknown.
Who is Abu Wahib (often called Abu Waheeb)? He's the terror image for ISIS, also known as the Desert Lion. In a nutshell, he is Shaker Wahib Al-Fahdawi.
Abu Wahib was born in 1986 and studied computer science at An