Abdul Nasser Qardash

Abdul Nasser Qardash (عبد الناصر قرداش; born 1967; sometimes identified as Abdel Nasser Qirdash or Kardesh, also known as Hajji Abdullah al-Afari) is an Iraqi militant who in 2019 was wrongly reported as the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

He was also nicknamed "The Professor" and "Destroyer".

Qardash was a high-ranking and very influential member of ISIL with close connections to its first caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and tipped as a potential candidate for ISIL leadership succession.

However days after the death of al-Baghdadi, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was ultimately chosen as the new declared leader of ISIL.

Born as "Tahah Abdel Rahim Abdallah Bakr al-Ghassani" in the mainly Iraqi Turkmen city of Tal Afar, Iraq, in 1967, Qardash is an ethnic Turkmen.

He studied in the Islamic Sciences college in the nearby city of Mosul.

He lived in Mosul's Musharafah neighborhood during his early years.

Qardash was a Major General within the army of Saddam Hussein, but became part of the Ansar al-Islam rebel group in 2003.

Qardash was jailed in 2003–2004 or 2005 by the US authorities with al-Baghdadi in Camp Bucca, a detention facility in Basra, following the invasion of Iraq and the ousting of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Qardash joined the Islamic State of Iraq, then part of al-Qaeda, in 2007.

He became a religious commissar in al-Qaeda in Nineveh, later in al-Jazira, and in early 2008 became al-Qaeda's "wali" of al-Jazira.

He organized a number of military operations against Iraqi forces and the Iraqi population on behalf of al-Qaeda.

In early 2010, he became assistant and consequently, with the approval of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi "wali" of the northern provinces including Mosul, South Mosul, al-Jazira and Kirkuk.

At the end of 2011, Qardash met Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and joined the Islamic State serving in the Baghdad region.

He was trusted with the industry and development portfolios for ISIL.

He reportedly played a major part in convincing al-Baghdadi to branch out into Syria during the early Syrian Civil War.

Qardash consequently moved to Syria to establish firearm and explosive factories and storage facilities, and met Al-Baghdadi almost a hundred times for coordination of ISIL operations.

After the rift between ISIL and Al Nusra Front, he was assigned governor "wali" of al-Sharqiyyah including Syrian Al-Hasaka, Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa.

In early 2014, he was appointed wali of ISIL's al-Barakah province.

After the declaration of ISIL's caliphate, he rose further in the ranks.

He was appointed deputy emir of the Delegated Committee.

He served as assistant to Abu Mohammad al-Adnani.

As of 2014, Qardash was in his mid-50s.

After the latter's death on 30 August 2016, Qardash was appointed emir of the Delegated Committee after al-Adnani and deputy leader to Caliph al-Baghdadi.

At some point, he questioned al-Baghdadi's decisions and was punished, but still retained general favor.

He became the "supervisor of development and manufacturing", holding this position unil 2017.

He was known as "The Professor", because he graduated in Islamic Studies in Mosul, whereas the nickname "The Destroyer" stemmed from his reputation as a ruthless persecutor.

He is also famous as head of security for Islamic State operatives, and as the coordinator of IS terrorist cells in North Africa and Europe.

During the International military intervention against ISIL, Qardash oversaw operations against the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo and the Syrian Arab Army in Deir ez-Zor.

Qardash also personally oversaw the selection of suicide bombers and the conduct of suicide operations for the Islamic State.

He supervised the fabrication and storage of mustard gas eventually used against Iraqi forces.

Qardash also helped command ISIL troops in the Siege of Kobanî, various Palmyra offensives (Tadmur), and finally during the Battle of Baghuz Fawqani, Baghuz being the last stronghold of ISIL in Syria.

At the end of the operations in Baghuz on 23 March 2019, he surrendered and was arrested.

There were reports, refuted later, that Qardash assumed the position of leadership of ISIL on 27 October 2019 following the death of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the Barisha raid conducted by the United States Army in northwest Syria.

A statement in August 2019 attributed to ISIL's propaganda arm, the Amaq News Agency, said that Qardash had been named al-Baghdadi's successor.

Some analysts dismissed the statement about Qardash assuming ISIL leadership as a fabrication.

Rita Katz, a terrorism analyst and the co-founder of SITE Intelligence, noted that the statement used a different font when compared to other statements and it was never distributed on Amaq or ISIL channels.

The allegedly false statement re-emerged in October 2019 following the death of al-Baghdadi, and was reported on by several news organizations, including Newsweek. A few days later, on 31 October, ISIL presented Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as the name of the individual who was Baghdadi's successor, and not Qardash.

Hisham al-Hashimi, an ISIL analyst and counter-terrorism advisor to the Iraqi government, said in October 2019 that, according to Iraqi intelligence sources, Qardash had died in 2017 and his daughter was being held by Iraqi intelligence.

Qardash was captured by Iraqi security forces in 2020.