With the Islamic State (IS) spiritual leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdady's purported debilitating spinal injury, the terrorist organization's militants have vowed to take revenge. Abdel Rahman Mustafa, a.k.a. Abu Alaa al-Afry, will most likely shoulder the responsibility of avenging the incapacitated "emir". Since March, 2014, news reports have argued Al-Baghdady, who was targeted during a U.S.-led coalition air strike, western of Iraq, will be succeeded by his second-in-command, Al-Afry. Al-Afry, who jumped to the helm of the most perilous terrorist group worldwide, is a former physics teacher born in the city of Khidr, around 80 kilometers from the oil-rich Mosul, which fell into IS grip last summer, Dr. Hisham Hashimi, an adviser to the Iraqi government revealed on April 22 to the American Newsweek magazine. "After Baghdadi's wounding, he [Afry] has begun to head up IS with the help of officials responsible for other portfolios. He will be the leader of the terrorist group if Baghdadi dies," Hashimi confirmed. The new leader, whose age is still unknown, has dozens of publications and religious studies of his own, providing him an outstanding rank within IS. "He is more important, and smarter, and with better relationships {when compared to Al-Baghdady}. He is a good public speaker and charismatic. All the IS leaders find that he has much jihadi wisdom, and good capability at leadership and administration," Hashimi added. Al-Afry joined the so-called Jihadi career in 1998 when he joined Osama Bin Laden's Qaeda in Afghanistan. Later on, he made his way up the terrorist organization's ranks. He was loyal to the Qaeda's Iraqi offshoot leader Abu-Musa'b Zarqawy and known inside IS for his strict understanding of Islamic Sharia. In 2006, Al-Afry founded the Mujahdeen Shura Council in Iraq with the declared aim of fighting the US occupation troops that invaded the Arab country in 2003. He was arrested by the US army and imprisoned in American prisons in Iraq, but released later on. While he was imprisoned, he conducted sermons to the prisoners, many of whom were affected by his radical positions. Some later joined the Islamic State and other jihad organizations. As a prominent figure within Jihadi organizations, Al-Afry was Bin Laden's first choice to replace Qaeda's heavyweights, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri, killed in 2010, as the emir of Qaeda's branch in Iraq. Al-Afry played the role of point-to-point link between Al-Baghdady and his commanders in Syria and Iraq where the terrorist organization captured large swathes. He also was appointed as the minister of Martyrs and Women affairs in IS cabinet before he was elevated to be the self-proclaimed caliph's right- hand, the Telegraph revealed last July. According to Hassan Hassan, who co-authored "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror," al-Afri became particularly dominant in recent months after the organization suffered a tactical defeat in Syria and Iraq, and has replaced ISIS Syria governor Abu Ali al-Anbari as al-Baghdadi's top man. "He is one of IS' most important players," Hassan added. Limited as the information available on the new leader is, Al-Afry, Dr. Hashimi says, adopts a strategy calling for reconciliation with the Qaeda as well as its offshoots, particularly Jabhat Al-Nusra (Nusra Front), the Islamic State's main rival in the war- torn Syria. He, furthermore, aspires to restructure the IS power pyramid, to be divided in half between Arab and foreign leaders, the Newsweek cited Dr. Hashimi as saying. Not only will Al-Afry deal with setbacks emanating from the U.S.-led coalition's military campaign, with IS being forced from the Syrian city of Kobane and losing the Sunni-majority city of Tikrit in Iraq, but the man has also to overcome a real challenge due to his Turkmen origins. Alquds Alarabi newspaper cited an IS source on April 28 denying Al-Afry's right to be the Islamic State's permanent caliph because he is neither Arab nor Hashemite.
