ELIMINATED
- Full name: Boubaker el-Hakim
- Pseudonym: Abu Muqatel
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: N/a
- Affiliation: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh], Islamic State’s Sabratha Network [DaISN], fmr Partisans of Shari’a in Tunisia [AST], fmr Buttes-Chaumont Network [FdBC], fmr Organization of Monotheism and Jihad [JTJ]
Boubaker el-Hakim (°1983) was a prolific French-born Tunisian militant who became devoted to jihad after he had studied Islamic law in Syria in the summer of 2002.1 During his stay in the country, Hakim briefly visited Iraq with the assistance of elements within the Syrian security forces.2 He returned to France in January 2003.3 In the weeks leading up to start of American military operations in Iraq, Hakim returned to the country and joined foreign jihadis who had gathered there to defend the regime of Saddam Hussein.4 On Mar. 18, 2003, Hakim called on French Muslims to join him in waging jihad against the Americans and their allies in Iraq in an interview with a French radio station.5 In April 2003, he was apprehended by Syrian security forces while trying to cross the border. The Syrian authorities sent him back to France the following month.6
Back in France, Hakim and Farid Benyettou set up the Buttes-Chaumont Network [FdBC; Filière de Buttes-Chaumont]. He recruited followers for the network among Muslim youths from the XIX arrondissement of Paris. Hakim inspired at least a dozen of these elements to go fight in Iraq.7
In March 2004, Hakim returned to Iraq and joined Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s Organization of Monotheism and Jihad [JTJ; Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad].8 He fought in the ranks of the JTJ against American troops in and around Falluja. His brother was killed in an American air strike in the city on Jul. 17, 2004.9 In August 2004, Hakim was arrested by Syrian forces as he tried to sneak into the country. He spent nine months in prison.10
The Syrian authorities extradited Hakim to France in late May 2005 where he was immediately taken into custody.11 On May 14, 2008 a court sentenced Hakim to seven years in prison for his role in the recruitment of French jihadis.12 He was released from prison on Jan. 05, 2011.13
Upon his release, Hakim traveled to his native Tunisia where long-time ruler Zineabdine Ben Ali had just been deposed. He quicky linked up with the Partisans of Shari’a in Tunisia [AST; Ansar Achariaâ].14 Hakim became a key operative of its covert armed wing.15 He procured weapons and helped set up training camps in Libya.16 Hakim later helped oversee the 2013 killings of left-wing politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohammed Brahmi.17 He personally shot and killed Brahmi.18 At the same time, Hakim also linked up with the Brigade of Uqba Bin Nafa’a [KUIN; Katibat Uqba Ibn Nafaâ] on Mount Chaâmbi and was involved in several of its attacks.19 In response to his activities, Tunisian authorities hunted him down. In 2013 alone, Hakim escaped arrest on three separate occasions.20 He eventually fled to Libya.
In late 2014, Hakim traveled to Syria where he joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham].21 On Dec. 17, Hakim was featured in a DaIISh propaganda video in which he chronicled his activities in Tunisia and threatened to attack France.22 From Syria, Hakim rallied his supporters in Libya and Tunisia. He helped coordinate the activities of the Islamic State’s Sabratha Network [DaISN] and was linked to some of the group’s most devastating operations, including the March 2015 attack on a museum in Tunis and the July 2015 massacre of beachgoers in Sousse.23 The American authorities designated Hakim as an international terrorist on Sep. 30, 2015.24
Hakim rose through the ranks of the DaIISh’s external operations wing and was eventually tasked with coordinating the organization’s efforts to hit France.25 He was believed to have helped plan the November 2015 attacks in Paris which killed 130 people.26 Hakim was also in contact with small jihadi cells that were rolled up by French security forces in Marseille and Strasbourg in November 2016.27
In October 2016, a Tunisian court had sentenced Hakim in absentia to death for his role in several 2013 attacks on Mount Chaâmbi.28 He was killed in an American aerial drone strike in Raqqa on Nov. 26, 2016.29 Although his death was confirmed, the Iraqi army has suggested that he might have survived the strike.30
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