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DAMASCUS, Syria — A former top deputy to Saddam Hussein has urged followers in a letter to turn down proposals for reconciliation talks with the United States or the Iraqi government, according to former Baath party members outside Iraq familiar with the letter. It is unclear if the message from Izzat Ibrahim, Saddam's former vice president and now a fugitive with a $10 million bounty on his head, is being followed. But it appears aimed at blunting a flurry of diplomacy to stabilize Iraq, including efforts by several Arab governments to persuade Iraqi Sunni insurgents to lay down arms and...

SANLIURFA, Turkey — When Abu Hamza, a former Syrian rebel, agreed to join the Islamic State, he did so assuming he would become a part of the group’s promised Islamist utopia, which has lured foreign jihadists from around the globe. Instead, he found himself being supervised by an Iraqi emir and receiving orders from shadowy Iraqis... All of the men, however, were former Iraqi officers who had served under Saddam Hussein... His account, and those of others who have lived with or fought against the Islamic State over the past two years, underscore the pervasive role played by members of...

LONDON (AFP) - Saddam Hussein's former right-hand man Ezzat Ibrahim al-Duri called for an escalation of the deadly insurgency in Iraq Ibrahim, who has been on the run since the US-led invasion of March 2003, urged "resistance movements and the Baath party to intensify the national campaign against the occupation", according to the letter published in the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Qods Al-Arabi. US commanders suspect that Ibrahim, 63, has been the paymaster of many attacks on their troops during the insurgency that erupted after Saddam's downfall in April 2003. Ibrahim also warned against the "sectarian division of Iraq to the...

Izzat Ibrahim Addouri has resurfaced despite a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head. By Nicola Nasser Addouri Outlines Anti-U.S. Strategy For the first time since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in April 2003, the deputy of Saddam Hussein, the late President of Iraq, Izzat Ibrahim Addouri has resurfaced, despite a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, in a lengthy interview with Abdel-Azim Manaf, the editor-in-chief of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Mawqif Al-Arabi, not a mainstream, on May 26 to lay out the strategy and tactics of the Iraqi resistance led by the former ruling party, Al-Baath. Addouri's resurface and...

'King of clubs' being sheltered by Syrian army By Damien Mcelroy in Damascus (Filed: 11/05/2003) The king of clubs from America's card deck of most wanted Iraqis is being sheltered at a military base in the Syrian capital Damascus, according to a Gulf diplomat. Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a former vice-president of Iraq and one of Saddam Hussein's closest henchmen, is said to be under the protection of Syria's Republican Guard in the decrepit military base near the airport. He is among thousands of regime figures who are believed to have slipped into Syria before Damascus sealed the border. Izzat had...

BAGHDAD, July 21 (UPI) -- Iraqi security reportedly discovered three missiles carrying nuclear heads concealed in a concrete trench northwest of Baghdad, official sources said Wednesday. The official daily al-Sabah quoted the sources as saying the missiles were discovered in trenches near the city of Tikrit, the hometown of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "The three missiles were discovered by chance when the Iraqi security forces captured former Baath party official Khoder al-Douri who revealed during interrogation the location of the missiles saying they carried nuclear heads," the sources said. They pointed out that the missiles were actually discovered in...

The Long War Journal: Al Douri forms nationalist Sunni coalition; 1920s Revolution Brigades denounces al Qaeda Written by Bill Roggio on October 4, 2007 11:34 AM to The Long War Journal Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/10/al_douri_forms_natio.php The Sunni insurgency continues to fracture as US and Iraqi forces are on the offensive in central and northern Iraq. Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, the most wanted Baathist and leader in the Sunni insurgency, has formed a new insurgent front which is willing to negotiate, while a faction of the 1920s Revolution Brigades openly denounced al Qaeda. A grouping of 22 Sunni insurgent groups have...

The United States has concluded that Syria helped finance the Sunni insurgency in Iraq. Officials said the regime of President Bashar Assad used the state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria to relay hundreds of millions of dollars to Saddam Hussein loyalists in Iraq. They said the money has been deployed to finance the insurgency against the U.S.-led coalition primarily in Iraq's Sunni Triangle. The Commercial Bank of Syria held more than $1 billion in Saddam regime accounts on the eve of the U.S.-led war in Iraq in March 2003, officials said. Most of that money stemmed from Iraqi arms and...

Saddam Hussein's ally Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri 'captured' in Iraq By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 12:57am BST 24/04/2008 American forces have captured Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party heir, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the most wanted former regime official still at large, it has been reported. A Middle Eastern television channel said Douri, a key force in the country's devastating insurgency, had been seized in a mountain raid in Saddam's home province of Salahaddin. Most wanted: Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri Douri was King of Clubs in the deck of cards of most wanted Iraqis issued to American soldiers after the war. But...

Saddam's nephew finds sanctuary in Syria By Con Coughlin in Baghdad (Filed: 18/05/2003) A leading member of Saddam Hussein's family has been discovered living in Damascus under the protection of the Syrian government after fleeing Iraq last week, The Telegraph can reveal. Fatiq al-Majid, one of Saddam's nephews, entered Syria last Monday after leaving Iraq at the al-Rabie'a checkpoint, which is under the control of American troops. Majid was given a Syrian visa and made his way to Damascus, where he is now living in exile. Majid confirmed his presence in Damascus when contacted by telephone by The Telegraph last...

IZZAT Ibrahim al-Duri, one of Saddam Hussein's top deputies and a man who eluded US capture despite a hefty bounty on his head, reportedly died quietly overnight at the age of 63. The notice of his death came not from the US military, but from a statement signed by the dissolved Baath Party command. "The leader of the resistance died on Friday November 11 at 2:20 am," according to the statement signed by the Baath command. There was no immediate confirmation of his death. Duri was one of Saddam's most feared right-hand men and was said to be suffering from...

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, aide to Saddam Hussein, died on Friday, al-Arabiya TV channel quoted a statement by the Baath party as saying. Al-Douri, vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council under Saddam's regime, ranks No. 6 among the 55 most wanted by the United States with a 10-million-dollar bounty on his head. He died early Friday, the statement said, without giving more details.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A former Iraqi general, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, is reported to be coordinating attacks in Iraq by foreign fighters and Iraqi regime loyalists, a US defense official said. "There are reports that the al-Douri is coordinating the attacks," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The reports in military channels fingering al-Douri as the coordinator of the attacks probably came from the recent capture in Mosul of a former secretary of al-Douri and two senior members of Ansar al-Islam who were close to the general, the official said. Number six on the US list of 55...