Dead

Terror organization: Kata’ib Hezbollah

Status: Key figure, special advisor and senior field commander at the special operations wing of the terror organization. Commander of the group’s operations in Syria.

Role: On February 7, 2024, the U.S military confirmed that it had struck a vehicle in Baghdad, killing its occupants. U.S.-designated terrorist group Kataib Hezbollah confirmed that one of its senior leaders, Abu Baqr al-Saeedi (real name Wissam Muhammad Saber), was killed in this vehicle Baghdad.

Abu Baqr al-Saeedi was a trusted bodyguard of the KH and PMF founder, U.S.- designated terrorist Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. He was one of the few persons allowed inside the room when Muhandis held meetings with IRGC Quds Force officials and was even allowed to carry weapons around senior leaders like Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.

Abu Baqr al-Saeedi’s PMF membership card, specifying his role as an advisor.

Abu Baqr al-Saeedi belonged to the Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi wing of KH, referring to the secretary-general (real name Ahmad Mohsen Faraj al-Hamidawi) who leads KH’s special operations wing. He is close to another U.S.-sanctioned terrorist and human rights abuser – Abu Zainab al-Lami (real name Hussein Falah Aziz al-Lami), who is also part of the Abu Hussein wing of KH.

When the Tishreen protests broke out in 2019, Abu Baqr al-Saeedi was a senior officer in Abu Zainab al-Lami’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Central Security Directorate (Amn al-Hashd), and therefore an employee of the Iraqi government and part of the state’s security forces. As the PMF Central Security Directorate commander in Rusafa (east Baghdad), he was responsible for the main protest area at Tahrir Square. He suppressed peaceful protests, facilitated the murder of protesters, and also facilitated their abduction and torture. (Abu Zainab al-Lami was sanctioned by the United Statesfor “serious human rights abuses” related to “the assassinations and suppression of protesters.”)

Abu Baqr al-Saeedi next reappeared in 2022, when he commanded the February 2, 2022, drone strike on the United Arab Emirates, which was claimed using the KH- controlled facade group brand Alwiyat al-Waad al-Haq. He controlled a cell formed in east Baghdad that brought Iran-provided drones to southern Iraq, then launched them toward UAE civilian targets using coordinates provided by IRGC-QF via Kata’ib Hezbollah facilities in Jurf al-Sakhar.

In the aftermath of his killing, Abu Baqr al-Saeedi has been described as the “director of operations,” the “head of strike operations,” and the “head of external operations” for KH. The United States indicated that he was “directly responsible” for executing the drone attack on January 28, 2024, that killed three U.S. personnel. One or more drivers or bodyguards were also killed in the strike, which caused no civilian casualties.

Location: Iraq / Syria.

Also Known As: Abu Baqir al-Saadi / Abu Baqr al-Saeedi.