WASHINGTON - Abu Azrael—the "Father of the Angel of Death"—an Iraqi Shia commander, that he once beat a man to death with a plastic flip flop.
His biceps are as big as cannonballs, and he rides into battle on a bicycle (he really does). Commander Abu Azrael wears a Kevlar vest, with hatchet in hand, a sword, grenades and an automatic assault rifle.
Abu Azrael Iraqi rambo❤❤
He claims to have killed 1,500 Islamic State (IS) fighters in a single year, and it's rumored that IS is so terrified of him that it will kill anyone who utters his name.
Abu Azrael's shaved head, black beard and gleaming teeth have made him the most recognized face in the region, and he has inspired , and even Android His battle cry, “” ("Into flour!" -- as in, “I’ll pound IS fighters into flour”) has caught on everywhere.
“The way he was introduced to people was via internet memes," said Phillip Smythe, a University of Maryland researcher and author of the blog . "You see this big, muscled guy. Sometimes he has an axe, sometimes he has a sword. Sometimes he's in a helicopter on a door gun."
I welcome death if destiny brings it - Abu Azrael.
But who, exactly, this man?
"There are a lot of rumors,” said Smythe. “Some claim he is a former university professor. Others that he is a former Taekwondo championStill others claim that his entire village was wiped out by ISIS, so that’s why he took up arms.”
His real name is reported to be allegedly serves as a commander in , part of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of dozens of Shia militias sponsored and armed by the Iraqi government and of wide rights violations.
In August 2015, a emerged which showed Abu Azrael desecrating the burned corpse of an alleged IS fighter.
%27Iraqi Rambo%27 Abu Azrael filmed slicing Islamic State fighter with sword like %27kebab%27
"You won’t get far against the Daesh [another acronym for IS] with humanity," he later told the newspaper.
IS by burning four captured Shia "spies."
In late 2015, rumors circulated that IS had captured and killed Abu Azrael. But he recently resurfaced in , vowing to liberate that city from IS hands.
"The Sunni perception of Abu Azrael varies from indifference to absolute loathing," said Rasha Al Aqeedi, a fellow at the , a UAE think tank. "Overall, he is viewed as a thuggish, sectarian outlaw."
In video recordings, Abu Azrael has reassured Sunnis that he views them as his brothers, said AlQeedi, and that his only enemy in this conflict is IS.
"However, on several occasions, has been cursing revered Sunni religious figures and threatening to abolish their 'offspring' —which is another way of threatening all Sunnis and lumping them together with ISIS," she said.
And some people think he spends more time taking selfies and group photos than fighting in actual battle, she added.
Abu Azrael holding a Bible, pledges to defend all the religious sites & the people!
"I would make the argument that he is a completely manufactured personality,” said Smythe, suggesting Abu Azrael is a propaganda tool of the Iran-backed government in Baghdad.
Abu Azrael received a medal at Holy Shrine for his brave efforts within
“The whole point of the narrative is to legitimize these Shia militias, particularly the Iranian-backed groups like Hezbollah, and to portray them as the defenders of Iraq, the allies of other embattled minorities in the region," he said. "The way that they have played this off? He's a romantic hero. He's a guy you want to be with."
When you think about it, Smythe added, "it’s absolute genius."