Alexander McKeever

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The Assassination of Muhammed Abu Ghannoum

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The Assassination of Muhammed Abu Ghannoum

The spark which ignited northern Aleppo

Alexander McKeever
Oct 20, 2022
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The Assassination of Muhammed Abu Ghannoum

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This is the first of several posts covering the recent HTS invasion of Afrin, its causes, and what it means going forward.


On Friday, October 7th, Syrian media activist Muhammed Abu Ghannoum and his pregnant wife were gunned down on the streets of al-Bab. The assailants fired on their victims from a white sedan, later seen on CCTV footage escaping to the neighboring town of Biza‘a.

The following day, thousands of people attended Abu Ghannoum's funeral at al-Bab’s Great Mosque, which was accompanied with a general strike and large scale protests throughout the city demanding accountability for the double murder and the city’s worsening security situation.  

A local activist organization involved in the protests known as “The Revolutionary Street in the City of al-Bab” soon published a series of demands. Holding Turkey responsible for the deteriorating state of the security situation in northern Syria, they called for the immediate resignation of the two main officials in charge of al-Bab’s security, Youssef al-Shibli and Khalid al-Ahmed, for Abu Ghannoum and his wife’s assassins to be brought to justice, and the development of a security plan involving the disarming of SNA factions present within the city. Demonstrations continued for the next several days, oriented around a mourning tent was set up in al-Bab’s Center Roundabout, renamed by protestors “al-Shahid Abu Ghannoum Square.”

May be an image of one or more people, people standing, outdoors, crowd and text that says 'Mohammed Hajjar'
Abu Ghannoum’s funeral (source)

On Monday October 10th, investigators from the SNA’s Third Legion and Military Police identified the killers. This was achieved through the analysis of CCTV footage taken by “more than 200 surveillance cameras” around the city, showing Abu Ghannoum and his wife being stalked by the assassins earlier that day.

Twitter avatar for @abazeid89
أحمد أبازيد @abazeid89
تظهر المزيد من صور التحقيق الأمني الذي قام به الفيلق الثالث وأفضى للقبض على خلية الاغتيال. كاميرات المراقبة أظهرت ملاحقة المجموعة للناشط محمد أبو غنوم وزوجته عبر مدينة الباب، وتؤكد وجود ٣ أشخاص ضمن الخلية.
2:20 PM ∙ Oct 10, 2022
27Likes4Retweets

As the Third Legion attempted to detain two of the alleged perpetrators, identified at this point as members of Furqat al-Hamzah's local security detachment based in the nearby 'Agriculture School', clashes broke out. One cell member was successfully arrested while the other was hospitalized after sustaining injuries during the fighting. A subsequent altercation occurred at al-Bab hospital, as members of Furqat al-Hamzah attempting to break the injured assassin out were confronted by protestors, one of whom was almost kidnapped by the group. A third member of the cell was later arrested that day as well.

Twitter avatar for @Abu_Orwa91
Abdullah Almousa @Abu_Orwa91
2⃣ حاولت مجموعة من فرقة الحمزة اعتقال الناشط بدر طالب لأنه منعهم من دخول مشفى الباب هنالك شكوك لدى ناشطين المدينة أن فرقة الحمزة حاولت دخول المشفى لتصفية المصاب المتهم بقتل أبو غنوم وزوجته وبالتالي إخفاء الشاهد والدليل والمجرم
12:06 PM ∙ Oct 10, 2022
47Likes10Retweets

According to confessions given by the detained Furqat al-Hamzah commander Abu Sultan al-Deiri ordered the assassination. Reporting soon identified Abu Sultan as a high ranking security officer within the faction and who’s appeared in a number of photographs meeting with Hamzah faction leader Saif Abu Bakr. Soon after this new information was publicized by the Third Legion, Furqat al-Hamzah turnedAbu Sultan over to the al-Bab Military Police.

Furqat al-Hamzah commander Saif Abu Bakr walking with Abu Sultan al-Deiri to his immediate left (source)
Abu Sultan al-Deiri after being turned over to the Military Police (source)

A statement published by Hamzah that day admitted that nameless members of the group had been arrested and charged with the murder of Abu Ghannoum and his wife. According to Hamzah they were members of a brigade which had only joined the faction recently. There does appear to be truth to this. Abu Sultan al-Deiri seems to have been affiliated with Furqat al-Sultan Murad during 2018’s Operation Olive Branch, while some reports say he was later a member of Ahrar al-Sharqiyah. Another member of the cell, Akram al-‘Akal (‘Abu Haitham’), was reportedly at one point a member of Ahrar al-Sharqiyah as well, and has additionally been accused of prior Islamic State affiliation.

Center - Abu Sultan al-Deiri, Right - Akram al-‘Akal Abu Haitham, Left - Abu Ya’qoub, also accused of taking part in the assassination of Abu Ghannoum (source)

It appears that the reason why Abu Sultan had Abu Ghannoum (and his wife) killed was anger over the latter’s work reporting on crimes committed by prominent Furqat al-Hamza figures. Abu Sultan’s grudge dates back to the previous month when Abu Ghannoum had spoke up to the press about an incident involving al-Hamzah commander Muhammed al-Kadri.

Abu Ghannoum was quoted in an article by al-Monitor, among other places, in its coverage of the case:

Muhammad Ghanoum, a journalist based in al-Bab, told Al-Monitor, “An armed group led by Abu Abdo al-Qadri, a prominent leader of the FSA’s Hamza Division, stormed Sept. 13 the house of Sohaib Abu Kasha, an officer of the police’s narcotics division of al-Bab city.”

He said, “The group brutally stormed the house before searching it and breaking some furniture, terrifying children and women who were inside the house at the time of the attack. One of the aggressors confiscated the cellphone of Abu Kasha’s wife and went through it. Before they left the house, another one of the aggressors told the wife that they broke into the house in retaliation for her husband confiscating a shipment of narcotics.”

Ghanoum added, “The aggressors took advantage of the absence of Abu Kasha who was at work on the outskirts of the city of al-Bab [on the day of the attack]. All those who stormed the house were drunk, and apparently some of them do drugs.”

At the time Abu Ghannoum was assaulted by Abu Sultan and his men who additionally threatened to kill him for publicizing al-Kadri’s role. Afterwards, Abu Sultan reached out and pursued reconciliation with Abu Ghannoum, presumably to counter negative PR. Under a month later he would make good on the earlier death threat. Several members of the assassination cell were in fact affiliated with al-Kadri’s group within Furqat al-Hamzah.

May be an image of 4 people, beard, people standing and military uniform
An photograph showing Abu Sultan and Abu Ghannoum’s short lived reconciliation (source)
Twitter avatar for @Abu_Orwa91
Abdullah Almousa @Abu_Orwa91
العنصران (المعتقل لدى الفيلق الثالث حالياً + المصاب) المتهمان بمقتل أبو غنوم يتبعان لمجموعة محمد الكادري أبو عبدو والأخير يتبع لأبو سلطان الديري ويتفق الجميع على أن الكادري أحد أكبر المفسدين في مدينة الباب وفرقة الحمزة
Image
12:11 PM ∙ Oct 10, 2022
63Likes16Retweets

After the detainment of Abu Sultan al-Deiri, the Third Legion mobilized its forces in al-Bab and moved to push Furqat al-Hamzah out of the city entirely. Several headquarters of the group were seized including the ‘Agricultural School’ security facility run by Abu Sultan. In response, Furqat al-Hamzah launched an attack on al-Bab city from the neighboring town of al-Biza‘a – one of their strongholds in the Euphrates Shield region. From here the conflict escalated across northern Aleppo, soon drawing in Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham….

SyriaTV’s profile of Abu Sultan al-Deiri can be read here

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