Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri: Saddam's right-hand man dies in Iraq at 78

The announcement of Al Douri’s death came in an audio message from the Baath Party wing he led

Saddam Hussein's former deputy Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri saluting during a military parade in the northern city of Mosul in February 4, 2003. AFP

A poster released by the US-led coalition in Baghdad shows Saddam Hussein's No 2 Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri, offering $10 million for his capture. AFP

Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, right, and the vice president of the ruling Revolutionary Command Council, Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri, attend a military parade at Baghdad's Victory Square. AFP, file

A photo of the famous deck of cards handed to US soldiers in 2003 to help them identify Iraqi officers showing the King of Clubs Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri. AFP via DoD

Saddam Hussein, left, and his right-hand man Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri while looking at artwork depicting Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock, in Iraq's capital Baghdad, in 2002. AFP

Saddam Hussein’s former deputy and Iraq’s most prominent fugitive since the 2003 US-led invasion, Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri, has died aged 78, Baath party sources said on Monday.

After days of speculation following an audio message reportedly from the remnants of Saddam’s Baath Party was ended by the daughter of the former dictator, Raghad Hussein, who tweeted confirmation on Monday evening.

“Condolences... to all Iraqis and all his (Duri's) admirers in the Arab world and around the world,” she said.

This is not the first time that Al Douri, once branded the King of Clubs on a deck of cards depicting Iraq’s most wanted figures given to US soldiers in 2003, has been declared dead by different agencies. He was one of only 10 names the deck of 52 who was never apprehended.

He was considered the closest adviser to Saddam and was the vice chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council that led Iraq under the longtime dictator.

Al Douri, once nicknamed the Red Devil for his ginger hair and brutal oppression of Iraqis, evaded US capture for years, formed an armed group of former elite Baathist soldiers to fight against international forces and later joined the senior leadership of ISIS around the time they captured large areas in a blitzkrieg offensive in 2014.

On Sunday, the Baath Party wing led by Mr Douri announced his death in an audio message but The National could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the message being widely circulated by accounts linked to the party.

The message praised Al Douri as “the knight of Baath and the Iraqi national resistance and the symbol of heroism.”

The unidentified speaker called on his followers “to adhere to the Baath principles…to continue the march of struggle of our people and to keep up its momentum.”

The announcement didn’t give details on the cause of death, but said he died in Iraq. He was previously thought to be in Syria or Yemen.

Like many of Saddam Hussein’s former advisers, Al Douri disappeared in the wake of the 2003 toppling of the regime. Nearly two years later, he announced the formation of a Sunni insurgent group to fight US and Iraqi forces.

The group, known as The Men of the Army of the Naqshabaniyah Order, was made up of former soldiers from the elite Republican Guard and intelligence officers – men who had served under the command of Saddam Hussein’s son, Qusay.

The group waged an insurgency campaign in the north and north-east Iraq, rising to prominence between 2005 and 2008. Their operations decreased as US-backed Iraqi security forces improved security.

Al Douri took the helm as the new leader of the banned Iraqi Baath Party after the execution of Saddam in December 2006.

His and other Sunni insurgent groups then teamed up with ISIS when it took over huge areas in northern and western Iraq in 2014. But within a few weeks, disputes erupted between the Iraqi groups and ISIS.

The latter soon consolidated power, assassinating members of Al Douri's group.

Even after the defeat of ISIS in late 2017, Al Douri’s group lay dormant, releasing only occasional video and audio messages.

But Al Douri has been declared dead before – most prominently in 2015. Then, Iraqi officials and Shia militia leaders said they had killed Al Douri during the fight to drive ISIS militants from areas surrounding Saladin province, north of Baghdad.

A few days later, they distributed photographs of a body they then displayed in the capital as proof of his killing. But in April 2016, he appeared, ailing but alive, in a video message wearing full military dress and his distinctive beret. He read a statement with shaking hands, exhorting supporters to confront “the Persians … under the flag of the Arab coalition.”

Al Douri was also famous for his altercation live on TV with a Kuwaiti diplomat weeks before the 2003 invasion. He launched a tirade of bizarre insults at the then Kuwaiti Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Al Sabah – including to curse his moustache –  during an emergency summit of the 57-member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference that sought to stop the war.

Perhaps inevitably, this public display of anger failed to impress the Arab conference, and the meeting concluded simply with a statement expressing the wish that Iraq would continue to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors.