Muhannad (mujahid emir)

Muhannad مهند
4th Emir of the Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya
In office 9 December 2006 – 21 April 2011
Preceded by	Abu Hafs al-Urduni
Succeeded by	Abdulla Kurd
Personal details
Born	1969
Died	21 April 2011
Religion	Sunni Islam
Military service
Allegiance	Caucasus Emirate
Commands	Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya
Battles/wars	Second Chechen War North Caucasus Insurgency

Melfi Al Hussaini Al Harbi, more commonly known as Muhannad ('مهند; Mukhannad or Mukhanad, Russian: Муханнад, sometimes Моганнед or Моханнад), and also known as Abu Anas (ابو أنس), was a Mujahid Emir (commander) fighting in Chechnya. Following the death of Abu Hafs al-Urduni on 26 November 2006, he was named leader of the Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya, the battalion of foreign fighters once commanded by the notorious Saudi-born Ibn al-Khattab.

Although Russian intelligence has claimed that he was a native of Jordan who served as a combat pilot (achieving the rank of Lieutenant) in the Jordanian Air Force and who also underwent military training in the United States. Not true. He is not Jordanian, it is more commonly believed that he was Saudi. He was killed by Russian security forces outside the village of Serzhen-Yurt, Chechnya on 21 April 2011.

Although little is reliably known of Muhannad’s early life, he was born in 1969 and hailed from the Medina area of Saudi Arabia’s western Hejaz region. He is said to have graduated with honors from the Islamic University of Madinah and is believed to have descended from Al Ashraf, meaning “from the family of the Prophet.”

Muhannad arrived in the Caucasus in 1999 during the early days of the Second Chechen War, attempting to pass through Georgia into Chechnya. Upon arrival in the Pankisi Gorge – a mountainous valley in northeastern Georgia inhabited mostly by ethnic Chechens known as Kists – Muhannad waited almost two years for his opportunity to cross the border. During his time living amongst the Chechen refugees, Muhannad gave lectures on the history of Islam and advocated a “purer” form of the religion than that traditionally practiced by Chechens; it is perhaps no coincidence that Wahabbi influence began to appear in Pankisi around this same time. Muhannad was eventually able to gain entry into Chechnya with a group controlled by the Akhmadov brothers in 2001, arriving along with other prominent Arab fighters such as Abu Atiya, Abu Rabia, and others. Having acquired previous battlefield experience in Afghanistan,The Philippines, Bosnia, and Kosovo, Muhannad joined the battalion of Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya led by Khattab.

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Wikipedia