Today, it was announced in Syria that Abu Maria al-Qahhtani, a leader in "Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham," was killed in an explosion of an improvised explosive device planted in his residence in the city of Sarmada, northern Idlib, which is under the control of "Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham." The explosion resulted in his death and the deaths of others who were with him.
Abu Maria, whose real name is Ali Musa Abdullah al-Jabouri, is a radical Islamist from Iraq who participated in the fighting during the Syrian civil war. He was previously the leader of the Shura Council of the al-Nusra Front. During the Iraq War in 2003, he was a student at the University of Mosul and a member of Saddam's Fedayeen. After the fall of Iraq under the Ba'ath Party regime, Abu Maria joined the Iraqi police in Mosul but later withdrew, leading to his arrest. He later joined al-Qaeda in Iraq and served as the head of the religious police.
**Transition to Syria**
He was sent to Syria with Abu Muhammad al-Julani in 2011 by the Islamic State of Iraq, where he became the leader of the Shura Council of the al-Nusra Front. When he joined the Islamic State of Iraq, he was known to be a staunch critic of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and made several attempts to separate the al-Nusra Front from the Islamic State of Iraq, causing significant disputes among al-Nusra Front members. Abu Maria al-Qahhtani also called for a separation from the Islamic State and, at one time, advocated breaking away from al-Qaeda entirely, expressing his dissatisfaction with sharing leadership of the front with his peers, including Abu Muhammad al-Julani. He frequently planned to form his own group.
He is also known for supporting Turkish operations in Syria, despite the official position of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham opposing his views. It is alleged that al-Qahhtani assassinated a number of his competitors for leadership within Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham in an attempt to push the group towards supporting Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war. He participated in internal fighting among factions, as well as internal disputes within the al-Nusra Front itself, which eventually led to his dismissal from his position; however, he remained very influential and close to most leaders of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham.
**Arrest**
On August 17, 2023, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham issued an official statement suspending the duties and powers of Abu Maria al-Qahhtani and referring him for investigation, citing mismanagement of his communications without consideration for the sensitivity of his position. Hours before the statement, an investigative report by Syria TV confirmed Abu Maria al-Qahhtani's arrest and indicated that he had been suffering from a severe illness for a while, without specifying its nature.
