About Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri (Arabic: عزة إبراهيم الدوري, romanized: ʿIzzat Ibrāhīm ad-Dūrī; 1 July 1942 – 25 October 2020) was an Iraqi politician, military officer and field marshal. He served as Vice Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council until the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States and was regarded as the closest advisor and deputy under President Saddam Hussein. He led the Iraqi militant group Naqshbandi Army. Al-Douri was the most high-profile Ba'athist official to successfully evade capture after the invasion of Iraq, and was the "king of clubs" in the infamous U.S. deck of most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. Al-Douri continued to lead elements of the Iraqi resistance such as the Naqshbandi Army against the then-occupation forces and waged an insurgency against the current regime in Baghdad. Following the execution of Saddam Hussein on 30 December 2006, al-Douri was confirmed as the new leader of the banned Iraqi Ba'ath Party on 3 January 2007. In April 2015, the Shiite militant organization Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq claimed they had killed al-Douri and his nine bodyguards during a military operation near the Al-Alaas oil fields in Hemreen east of Tikrit. The group further alleged that his body had been transported to Baghdad to confirm its identity on 17 April 2015. Though the story was carried by the BBC, they also noted that the Iraqi Ba'ath party denied that al-Douri had died, while a Kurdish news source reported that Iraq did not have al-Douri's DNA to confirm his death. Al-Douri subsequently appeared in videos talking about events that took place after his supposed death. On 26 October 2020, news of his death was again carried by both local and international media, this time based on an announcement made a day earlier by the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, and a statement by Raghad Hussein, the daughter of Saddam Hussein. In May 2015, an audio recording alleging to be that of al-Douri, criticized both IS and Iran.
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