Abu Luqman … changing the name with changing the mission entrusted to him by ISIS

Abu Luqman
Image of Abu Luqman, Ali Musa Al-Shawakh

Exclusive-Abdalaziz Alhamza “RBSS”

Disappearance or hide a number of ISIS leaders every now and then became a known policy for all, but that the group transfers its members each period and change their names because of security considerations, is the unfamiliar new way to the public.

One of the most important and famous leaders of the group, who is known as “Abu Luqman”, which is currently disappeared from existence under this name, but the fact of the matter is that he changed his name to “Abu Ayyub” in order to move easily away from the chase, where the group published a rumor that he might assassinated at the hands of unknown men.

Abu Luqman is Ali Musa Al-Shawakh from Syrian nationality, he was born in 1973 in the village of Sahl west of Raqqa, he studied law at the University of Aleppo, and his origin returns to the clan of Ajeel in Raqqa, he adopted a Sufi thought as a result of his relationship with the so-called “Abu Qaqaa” client of the Syrian regime, who recruited many of the Syrian youth to be sent to Iraq in 2003 on the back of the US occupation of Iraq, where Syrian intelligence worked to facilitate sending jihadist fighters to Iraq, and helping jihadi groups in Iraq by providing logistical, technical and financial support.

Abu Luqman was pursued by many of the Syrian security servicesو and he has detained for various periods, the final arrest was in Sednaya prison where he met there some owners of Salafi jihadist ideology, he was released at the beginning of the Syrian Revolution with a group of jihadist ideology owners, he communicated with a number of activists in the Syrian Revolution to persuade them to join groups that they were in the process of its establishment in Raqqa under the name Abu Abdullah Alghareeb, members of these jihadi groups were moving comfortably in Raqqa, and their talks was focused on converting the peaceful revolution to militarization and the use of weapons, but the regime ignored these groups and let them to recruit young people freely, while the rebels meetings have been chased before Syrian security services significantly.

With the beginning of the armed struggle in Raqqa and the emergence of the faction of Al-Nusra Front, the name of Abu Luqman emerged and began working to strengthen this faction, using each of Abu Saad al-Hadrami and Abu Dujana, both of them were one of the first involved in demonstrations of Raqqa and were known in the revolutionary medium, this was an attraction for more people to join Al-Nusra Front in Raqqa, with the liberation of the city Abu Luqman began to increase the financial resources for Al-Nusra through the sale of wheat and oil, where an agreement concluded with the ministry of oil affiliated to Assad’s regime to facilitate the passage of oil from Akeirshi Station in exchange for 25 million Syrian pounds per week, as well as the seizure and sale of the mechanisms in association with the responsible for it, who so-called Abu Faisal close associate of Abu Luqman of Alkasrat area south of the city of Raqqa.

With the declaration of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant “ISIS”, Abu Luqman defected from Al-Nusra and swore allegiance to ISIS, the largest block which strengthened the group was the block of fighters from Raqqa and Aleppo, where Abu Luqman helped and had a major role in the appointment of leaders from his close friends in these areas, the man became more important in the group in Syria, it is likely that he was the emir of ISIS in the Levant, he was known for his sadism, where he oversaw himself on the operations of kidnapping and torture for some activists and some free army commanders, he took the Akeirshi Oil Station as a prison for wanted persons to the group, he was known with cunning and savvy and eloquence acquired by the theorists of jihadist ideology in Sednaya prison, as he broadcasted voice messages to guide members of the group, his messages were focused on atoning other jihadist factions which were close to the thought of the group, and support of the most extreme thought among other factions.

After the control of ISIS on Raqqa and withdraw from western countryside of Aleppo and the city of Idleb, for fear of the advance of opposition factions towards the territory of the group in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, Abu Luqman has been appointed to manage the situation in Aleppo eastern countryside, where he worked to stop the advance of these factions by doing a number of massacres to intimidate residents and enhance the influence of the group depending on some close colleagues from the prison, including Abu Hamza Al Naeb of Maskana City.

The presence of Abu Luqman in Raqqa became rare and later he disappeared completely from the scene, but after that he appeared with a new name “Abu Ayyub” in the countryside of Aleppo as the emir of Desert District, where he oversaw the Islamic camps for the preparation of princes and governors.

During the recent period, he tried to attract many sons of his village and his cousins to the ranks of the group, to help him in spite of the fact that one of his cousins is a member of the national leadership of the ruling Baath Party in Syria, as that international coalition warplanes has bombed his house in the village of Sahl.

Nobody knows the current name for this man or his new position in the group, but it is known that the group has sent many of its members to Iraq in order to extend its influence there, in while it depends on Iraqis and members from other nationalities in Syria, in which considered a part of ISIS policy to remove local leaders away from the areas to which they belong, to prevent empathy and compassion in the decisions taken by these leaders toward civilians.

media activist from the city of Raqqa, student at the Faculty of Law at the University of the Euphrates. Director of the Media Office of Raqqa, founding member of "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently", founding member of the documentary project of "Sound and Picture". I work in documenting violations committed by Assad's regime and ISIS group and extremist organizations inside the city of Raqqa, as I work in programming, design and visual media. I hold a certificate of coach in digital security, and a certificate of journalist coach, and a certificate in documenting violations against human rights, and a certificate in electronic advocacy. I underwent a training under the supervision of "Cyber-Arabs" in collaboration with the Institute for War and Peace "IWPR", about the management of electronic websites and leadership of advocacy campaigns, and a training of press photography under the supervision of the photojournalist "Peter Hove Olesen".