# Ali Musa Daqduq

Ali Musa Daqduq (Arabic: علي موسى دقدوق; died 10 November 2024) was a senior Hezbollah leader and senior advisor to Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq leader Qais al-Khazali. He played an instrumental role in establishing Iraq’s Iran-backed Shia militias following the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

## 2007 capture by U.S. military

Daqduq was captured by US troops in Basra, Iraq on 20 March 2007 along with Qais al-Khazali and his brother Laith al-Khazali. He is alleged to have participated in the 20 January 2007 attack killing five US troops in Karbala. Later, in 2012, two Iraqi courts found him not guilty of masterminding the 2007 raid on an American military base and released him from prison. US Intelligence has alleged that Daqduq's testimony during his internment is key evidence for collaboration between Iran and Hezbollah. He is alleged to have been a key facilitator of an IRGC-Quds Force sniper network in Iraq.
On 2 July 2007, US forces identified that they had captured Daqduq. They asserted he was a member of Hezbollah, and was operating with support from Iran. The 2 July press briefing published images of Daqduq's forged identity documents. Iranian officials denied that assertion on 4 July 2007. Daqduq pretended to be deaf and mute when he was captured, and refused to speak for weeks.
In November 2011 Reuters reported that the US was negotiating with the Iraqi government to hold Daqduq in US custody after the US pulled out of Iraq in December 2011. An agreement could not be reached, and Daqduq was transferred to Iraqi custody on 18 December 2011.
On 7 May 2012, Iraq dismissed terrorism and false documents charges against Daqduq. The case was automatically appealed, and he remained imprisoned until the appeal was heard in the superior court. The United States believed that releasing him was a very bad idea, that the evidence was clear, and that he was likely to commit more acts of resistance against US occupation forces if released. Officials in the military commissions system in the United States began procedures to charge Daqduq with war crimes (specifically, that he killed or ordered killed four US soldiers captured during a raid).
On 16 November 2012, Daqduq was released from Iraqi custody as the Iraqi government determined that it no longer had a legal basis to hold him. Following his release, the US added Daqduq to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) pursuant to Executive Order 13224.
On 13 March 2019, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus accused Daqduq of having come back to Lebanon and then Syria, and founded a Hezbollah-operated network of "a few" Syrian operatives manning outposts in the Golan Heights border village of Hader, Syria and collecting intelligence against Israeli targets. The accusation included video footage of men walking to and from the outposts.

## Personal life and death

Daqduq's son, Hassan Ali Daqduq, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Syria's Quneitra governorate in December 2023.
On 10 November 2024, Daqduq was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Syria.

## Popular culture

Daqduq's 2007 raid on US troops in Karbala and subsequent interrogation by CIA and Mossad agents was dramatized in the 2023 Showtime series Ghosts of Beirut.