Abu Mohammad al-Adnani

Taha Subhi Falaha (Arabic: طه صبحي فلاحة ‎; 1977 – 30 August 2016), known as Abu Muhammad al-Adnani al-Shami (Arabic: أبو محمد العدناني ‎), was the official spokesperson and a senior leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (also called the Islamic State or ISIS). He was described as the chief of its external operations. He was the second most senior leader of the Islamic State after its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Media reports in August 2016 suggested he was in charge of a special unit, known as the Emni, that was established by ISIL in 2014 with the double objective of internal policing and executing operations outside the ISIL territory.

On 30 August 2016, the Islamic State announced al-Adnani has been killed in Aleppo Province. A number of fighting forces claimed responsibility for al-Adnani's death. On 12 September 2016, the U.S. Department of Defense officially confirmed that a U.S. airstrike had killed al-Adnani.

On 4 January 2016, Abu Mohammad al-Adnani was reportedly injured by an Iraqi airstrike on Barwana, near Haditha, Iraq and was moved to Mosul for recovery.

On 30 August 2016, the Islamic State announced that Adnani was killed in Aleppo Province. The Russian Federation claimed that Adnani had been killed in a Tuesday (30 August 2016) Russian airstrike. Specifically, the Russian Defense Ministry indicated on August 31 that al-Adnani was killed in the Maarat Umm Hawsh area of Aleppo as result of an airstrike conducted by a Russian Su-34 bomber, a strike which targeted and hit a group of about 40 Islamic State fighters. On 13 September, the Russian national foreign news agency Sputnik News contended that while Russia's version of events was "more likely" than the Pentagon's, it was also possible that Adnani had been killed by Islamic State rivals, or might even still be alive.

An unnamed U.S. defense official said, "coalition forces conducted an airstrike in al-Bab, Syria, targeting an ISIL senior leader" and were still trying to confirm whether he was killed. A U.S. defense official called the Russian claim to have killed al-Adnani "preposterous" and "a joke" and said they stand by the statement made on August 30 that U.S. forces conducted the strike that targeted al-Adnani. Also, earlier in the day on 30 August 2016, a U.S. military intelligence official stated that al-Adnani was wounded several days previous and succumbed to his injuries in al-Bab.

On 5 May 2015, the U.S. State Department Rewards for Justice Program announced a reward up to US$5 million for information leading to his capture.

According to a former ISIS militant, al-Adnani personally participated in the burning death of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh in 2015, and directed ISIS media crews to produce videos of killings.

On 18 August 2014, the US State Department listed al-Adnani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. On 15 August 2014, he was sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council.

On 22 September 2014, al-Adnani gave a lengthy speech entitled "Indeed, Your Lord Is Ever Watchful", which was significant because it was the first official instruction by the Islamic State for its supporters to kill non-Muslims in Western countries. This speech has been credited with inspiring a wave of Islamic terrorism in Europe.

If you can kill a disbelieving American or European – especially the spiteful and filthy French – or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him.

In May 2005 Al-Adnani was arrested by Coalition forces in Al Anbar Governorate in Iraq under a fake name "Yasser Khalaf Hussein Nazal al-Rawi", and was released in 2010. In December 2012, an Iraqi intelligence official said he was using a number of aliases including "Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, Taha al-Banshi, Jaber Taha Falah, Abu Baker al-Khatab and Abu Sadek al-Rawi."

He was summoned for questioning repeatedly by the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate and was arrested three times. One of the times he was arrested was when he was passing through al-Bukamal on his way to Iraq for the first time. He spent months in jail and was finally freed after he refused to divulge information, despite being tortured. Al-Adnani, alongside Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, was one of the last to evacuate the city of Fallujah after the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004.

According to a biography penned by Turki al-Binali, Adnani became involved in Islamic militancy in the year 2000. His primary teacher was Abu Anas al-Shami, a senior leader in Jama'at al-Tawhid wal Jihad. He swore allegiance to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi along with thirty-five others while in Syria, with a plan to fight the government of Bashar al-Assad. However, the Americans invaded Iraq, and Adnani became one of the first foreign fighters to oppose Coalition forces in Iraq.

Al-Adnani was born in 1977 in the town of Binnish in the countryside of Idlib Governorate, western Syria. In a biography published by ISIS cleric Turki al-Binali after Adnani's death, it's written that he "grew up with the love of mosques ... [and] memorized the Quran as a young man."