Overview

Abu Obida is a senior ISIS leader who was the chief of the Hisbah patrol, ISIS’s morality police in Raqqa, Syria.Adam Weinstein, “Video Shows What Sharia Really Looks Like for Occupied Iraq and Syria,” Gawker, August 12, 2014, https://www.gawker.com/video-shows-what-sharia-really-looks-like-for-occupied-1620209668; John Hall, “Pictured, the most feared policeman in the world: Jihadi in charge of religious police in ISIS capital behind countless beheadings, crucifixions and amputations,” Daily Mail, June 8, 2015, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3112378/Pictured-feared-policeman-world-Jihadi-charge-religious-police-ISIS-capital-countless-beheadings-crucifixions-amputations.html.

According to the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ISCVE), Obida is a high-ranking ideologue and recruiter from Turkey.Anne Speckhard and Ardian Shajkovci, “Real Voices from the Caliphate Talk Back to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi,” International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, May 7, 2019, https://www.icsve.org/real-voices-from-the-caliphate-talk-back-to-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi/. When ISIS declared its caliphate in Syria and Iraq on June 29, 2014, it is suspected that Obida began serving as the Hisbah patrol leader. According to scholars on ISIS, Obida’s role did not include actual combat or activities to target enemy fighters. Instead, Obida mostly checked that people would not drink or smoke during the day, that women were dressed according to Islamic edict, and that trade was conducted fairly.Michael C. Frank and Pavan Kumar Malreddy (eds.), Narratives of the War on Terror: Global Perspectives, New York, NY: Routledge, September 10, 2020, https://books.google.com/books?id=xxX8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT251&lpg=PT251&dq=abu+obida&source=bl&ots=vaxsFv5NgH&sig=ACfU3U3Pwlylm80VsliVe6QKF5cKTcfgrg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiiq_X0vMfzAhXKY98KHeFoDVw4FBDoAXoECAcQAw#v=onepage&q=abu%20obida&f=false.

Although members of the Hisbah patrol brandished AK-47s and whipping canes, the extent of their duties included chastising civilians and arresting those the patrol deemed as inadequately observing the tenets of Islam.Adam Weinstein, “Video Shows What Sharia Really Looks Like for Occupied Iraq and Syria,” Gawker, August 12, 2014, https://www.gawker.com/video-shows-what-sharia-really-looks-like-for-occupied-1620209668. In describing his role in a Vice News documentary, Obida claimed, “my purpose is to establish the Caliphate… and in order to make it happen in the way of the prophet we have to teach others what to do and what not to do.”Leonardo Blair, “'We Will Raise the Flag of Allah in the White House' and Humiliate Your Soldiers, Says ISIS in Threat to US,” Christian Post, September 22, 2014, https://www.christianpost.com/news/we-will-raise-the-flag-of-allah-in-the-white-house-and-humiliate-your-soldiers-says-isis-in-threat-to-us.html.

In March 2019, Obida was interviewed by ICSVE researchers in Rojava, Syria and claimed that when the caliphate fell that month, Iraqi ISIS leaders sold the wives of foreign fighters to Iraqi militias in exchange for safe passage to Syria.Anne Speckhard and Ardian Shajkovci, “Real Voices from the Caliphate Talk Back to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi,” International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, May 7, 2019, https://www.icsve.org/real-voices-from-the-caliphate-talk-back-to-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi/.

It is suspected that Obida was arrested by Iraqi special intelligence forces in Khalis, Iraq on August 18, 2021. According to media sources, Obida allegedly was planning to target Husseiniyahs—a congregation hall for Shiite Muslims—on the tenth day of the Islamic New Year.“Security forces arrest a senior ISIS terrorist,” Shafaq, August 18, 2021, https://shafaq.com/ar/Iraq-News/Security-forces-arrest-a-senior-ISIS-terrorist.