Thread by @jenanmoussa

1/ Exclusive: Head of ISIS, Amir al Mawla, was in 2008 arrested by U.S. troops. During interrogation Al Mawla said he was a Sufi, which is surprising

Files shared with me by @CTCWP show all details. Sources in Iraq confirmed story to me. Check my report:

2/ That the current leader of ISIS, Amir al Mawla, has a Sufi background, comes as a surprise. Sufis generally are not part of Jihadi circles.

But in the 2008 al-Mawla files, which @CTCWP shared with me, the current ISIS chief clearly states he is a Sufi.

@akhbar

3/ In one of the "tactical interrogation reports" from 2008, al Mawla (the current ISIS chief) explains that he, as a Sufi, did not even swear allegiance or “bayat” to the Islamic State of Iraq because he was scared for them.

Check yourself what the U.S. interrogators wrote:

4/ That al Mawla was a Sufi, was independently confirmed to me by a high up source in Mahalabiyah, the town where Al Mawlah was born.

Source wrote to me via whatsapp: “Until 2007 he (Al mawla) was on the Sufi order. What changed him I don’t know. This is the confusing part.”

5/ The same source told me something else which is really significant.

After Amir Al Mawla last year became the new leader of ISIS following the killing of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, representatives from the Mawla tribe contacted the current pro-Baghdad authorities in Mahalabiyah.

6/ Worried that the tribe would suffer after one of its members became head of ISIS, they wanted to distanced themselves from ISIS.

“They said they have nothing to do with this criminal and that they are not responsible for his actions," source wrote.

7/ And to end this thread, acc to the interrogation files, Amir al Mawla was Imam of Furqan Mosque in Mosul in 2007 before his arrest.

I sent somebody to Furqan mosque. As u can see in screenshot from my report: It survived the war in Mosul. It's now closed due to coronacrisis.