Abu Khalid al-Suri

Abu Khalid al-Suri (Abu Khalid 'the Syrian'), or Mohamed al-Bahaiya or Abu Omeir al-Shami was a Syrian Jihadist militant often affiliated with Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda and the Syrian Islamist group, Ahrar al-Sham. Al-Suri was assassinated in 2014 during a suicide operation carried out by fighters belonging to ISIS.

Born in Aleppo, Syria in 1963 as Mohamed al-Bahaiya, al-Suri’s Jihadist career has its roots in the failed Islamist Uprising in Syria between 1979 and 1982, following which he fled Syria.

During the 1990s al-Suri coordinated closely with Abu-Musab al-Suri, a Spanish-Syrian Jihadist. Together, Abu-Musab and Abu Khalid al-Suri worked to establish Jihadi-volunteer centers, training camps and various media groups in Afghanistan. While both men worked closely with Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, they clearly denied being members of the group during an issued a statement in 1999. Around the time of the statement, al-Suri had been operating mostly out of Turkey and fled to Afghanistan.

In 2004, al-Suri, along with Abu-Musab, was linked to the 2004 Madrid bombing through a series of money transfers and personal contacts. A Spanish court document went on to name al-Suri as Bin Laden’s “courier” in Europe. Another report refers to him as “a ‘mid-level’ activist…and a ‘member of Usama (sic) bin Ladin’s structures in Europe”.

Al-Suri was financially aided partly by a Qatari national, named Abd Al-Rahman al-Nuaimi. Nuaimi is a purported human rights activist and co-founder of Alkarama. On December 18, 2013, Nuaimi was placed on the United States Treasury’s Specially Designated Global Terror List (SDTG). Nuaimi is accused of transferring $600,000 dollars to al-Suri and the intent to transfer approximately $50,000 more.

In 2011, al-Suri co-founded Ahrar al-Sham¸ a Sunni Syrian Islamist group, opposing Bashar al-Assad’s government forces as part of the Islamic Front. Despite helping to found al-Sham and serving in its most senior ranks, al-Suri’s involvement in the organization and his ties to al-Qaeda were kept secret, and he adopted a new nom de guerre: Abu Omeir al-Shami.

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