Abdul Lateef el-Sabet
Abdul Lateef el-Sabet ملا عبدالطیف الصبیط | |
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| Born | June 7, 1966 Dammam, Saudi Arabia |
| Died | 4 January 2018 (aged 52) Riyadh-Dammam Highway, Saudi Arabia |
| Allegiance |  Taliban |
| Years of service | 1994–2018 |
| Rank | Commander |
| Battles/wars | |
Mollah Abdul Lateef el-Sabet was a senior Taliban military commander from 1994 until 2018 when he was killed by British special forces in Saudi Arabia. Throughout his service, he was one of the Taliban's most reputed strategist and a leader of the Taliban cell in Saudi Arabia.
Early Life
Born in 1966, Abdul Lateef el-Sabet hailed from the wealthy Saudi family of el-Sabet that had been living in the city of Dammam for more than three generations. Upon completing his study, El-Sabet initially pursued an active career in religious teaching. However, this was curbed by the outbreak of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan which prompted him and many men to journey to Afghanistan in order to aid the local Mujahadeen forces against the invading Soviet forces.
Like many other men fighting for a similar cause, El-Sabet and his peers were given extensive training and aid by the CIA. Upon quickly becoming a skilled militia, El-Sabet led a personal group of fifty armed fighters that fought actively in Herat Province. Following the Soviet withdrawal, he and his men continued to reside in Afghanistan and eventually became a founding part of the Taliban organisation. Subsequently, he was appointed as the lead commander of the Taliban cell in 2005.
Operation Heraclius
In 2017, following the failure of the Burj Rafal Hostage Crisis which saw a subordinate of his, Taalib el-Saladin killed by British-Saudi coalition forces, El-Sabet and his men temporarily withdrew from Saudi Arabia towards Qatar instead where for a period of three months, they resided in the capital city of Doha.
Not long after the capture of Abdel Tariq, who had been one of El-Sabet's subordinates, the latter and his men subsequently withdrew to Pakistan following an information leak in regards to the capture. For a brief period, the group hid themselves away in the country before retreating once more, and finally to Saudi Arabia.
Death
After hiding in his home city of Dammam for two months, El-Sabet and his remaining entourage decided to move to Riyadh from the city by land. However, this became known to the British intelligence which in retaliation, set up a taskforce to hunt his entourage down. Eventually, at 8:26 AM, El-Sabet and four of his fighters were killed in an ambush at the Riyadh-Dammam Highway by Special Air Service operators.
As a result of his death, the Taliban cell in Saudi Arabia quickly disintegrated while the Taliban in Afghanistan, upon hearing of his death swore vengeance and condemned the operation as a Western plot to undermine the stability and progress of Islam.