Draft:Sanafi al-Nasr al-Sharkh

Sanafi al-Nasr al-Sharkh
Name	Ibrahim al-Sharkh
Personal Details
Birth Place	Saudi Arabia
Death Place	Syria

Abd al-Muhsin Abdullah Ibrahim al-Sharkh, known as Sanafi al-Nasr, was one of the commanders of al-Nusra Front.

Education

Known as Sanafi al-Nasr, of Saudi origin, was born in the "Shaqra" region.

No information is available regarding his education or the shaykhs under whom he studied.

None of the biographies that have addressed al-Sharkh's life contain any information regarding his attainment of an academic degree, whether in religious or non-religious sciences. Also, no mention has been made of his study under famous shaykhs; therefore, it is difficult to find any written works by him, and apart from two articles, no other work by him is available. These two articles are: Qabl al-Nafir / Before the War and Ba'd al-Nafir / After the War. Of course, these two writings, more than resembling articles, resemble rhymed speech and a call to action.

Political Activities

Along with his six brothers, he soon entered the arena of jihadist activities, though most of them were killed. Some sources report the presence of two of them in American detention camps.

He left Saudi Arabia for Iran and resided in this country for a while, playing a support role that was in line with the interests of al-Qaeda during the time of bin Laden. His familial relations linked him to bin Laden.

According to some sources, al-Sharkh left Saudi Arabia for Bahrain in 2007. From Bahrain he went to Iran and from there to Afghanistan to join the mujahideen of al-Qaeda, and there he became one of the individuals close to the leaders of this organization.

Joining al-Nusra Front

In 2013, he entered Syria and joined al-Nusra Front. In a short period, he managed to take command of the front in the coastal section of Syria. al-Sharkh was killed in this same region in a battle named "Anfal". In this battle, Syrian opposition forces were fighting against the forces of Bashar al-Assad.

On 16 August 2016, the U.S. Department of State included al-Sharkh's name on the terrorism list, and his name was registered among individuals under legal pursuit.

In al-Sharkh's file, as with other figures of jihadist currents, complexities and ambiguities are seen. He was born in 1985 and is considered relatively young in terms of age; but jihadist websites usually exaggerate in presenting the biographies of these individuals and portray them as great figures; for example, some of them say: al-Sharkh studied under Shaykh Abdullah Azzam; whereas Abdullah Azzam was killed in 1989 and al-Sharkh's age at that time was not more than 4 years.

In the field, there is information that proves or shows that al-Sharkh participated in at least only one important military operation in Syria. No command or battle of strategic value is seen in his record. When he was killed, he was 29 years old.