Saïd Arif, also known by his nom de guerreOmar Gharib (1965–May 2015) was an al-Qaeda operative, terrorist and former Algerian People's National Army officer who was formally designated as a threat to United States security in August 2014 before his death less than a year later, in May 2015.
Life
He was a former lieutenant in the Algerian army who, after deserting, became involved with jihadist organizations. He was the lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi around this time. In the mid-1990s, he spent time in Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, before returning to Europe to settle in Germany, where he was allegedly the leader of the Frankfurt terrorist cell, led by Mohammed Bensakhria, and was responsible for the attempted bombing of the Strasbourg Christmas market in December 2000, which was unsuccessful.[1]
He agreed to join the Brigade, and left for the training camps in the Pankisi Valley, where he met other jihadist fighters from France. There he also met Menad Benchellali, who was the head of the Chechen jihad in France. Back in Europe, Arif was responsible for setting up convoy networks for European volunteers during the War in Iraq, passing through Syria. He was also responsible for purchasing and transporting several Swisscom-made telephone chips to al-Zarqawi. These chips were used by al-Zarqawi until September 2003 to make calls from Iraq and from the Syrian border areas of the Husseiba region. The investigation carried out by the Swiss Federal Office made it possible to draw up a summary table of the calls made by al-Zarqawi.[3]
Around September 2003, Arif arrived in Syria to take charge of the Syrian sector of al-Qaeda. Using the networks established in Europe, his aim was not only to continue to supply fighters to the anti-American guerrillas in Iraq, but also to begin to organize the movement of fighters back towards Europe and their reintegration. Several hundred jihadists, after a combat stay in Iraq, were thus sent back to their country of origin in Europe, with the mission of forming as many cells ready to put themselves at the disposal of Al-Qaeda to export to carry out attacks across Europe.[4][2]
Arrest
Arif was arrested in Damascus on 17 June 2004 and extradited to France under anti-terrorism jurisdiction. After his arrest and extradition to France, Arif revealed to Jean-Louis Bruguière the existence of networks of Islamist fighters returning from Iraq and responsible for preparing attacks, particularly in Italy and England.[4]
Convicted in 2007 for several attempted attacks in France, and again released in 2011, to be placed under house arrest, the European Court of Human Rights opposed his expulsion to Algeria, due to the risk of torture. In January 2012, he escaped from house arrest. He was incarcerated at the De Seysses prison near Toulouse in March 2012, before being released 9 months later under house arrest for a second time.[5]
Under house arrest in Brioude, Arif gave an interview to the newspaper Le Renouveau. The publication of the interview was picked up by the national press.[1][3][4][5] He fled to Syria in May 2013.[6][7]
His death was announced by several jihadists on social networks. He was reportedly killed in Syria during a coalition air raid at the end of May 2015. The death of Arif was confirmed by French officials to have been the result of an American drone strike in September 2015.[8]
