Abu Ubaidah Youssef al-Annabi

Abu Ubaidah Youssef al-Annabi (أبو عبيدة يوسف العنابي; born 1 January or 7 February 1969), also known by Yezid Mebarek, is an Algerian Islamist jihadi militant who is the current emir, or leader, of the Algerian Islamic militant group Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), formerly the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). In November 2020, he was named emir, replacing Abdelmalek Droukdel who was killed during a French special operation during the Battle of Talahandak.

The U.S. Rewards for Justice Program is offering up to $7 million in exchange for information leading to al-Annabi's apprehension.

Biography
Youssef al-Annabi was born in Annaba, Algeria. After studying economics at the University of Constantine, he became an active militant of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), an Islamist party created in 1989. A year after the end of the electoral process in January 1992, Youssef al-Annabi, freshly graduated, joined the ranks of the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) to fight in the Algerian Civil War, then those of the GIA where he met Abdelmalek Droukdel in 1996.

He rose in rank by participating in the creation of the GSPC in 1998. In November 2009, Youssef narrowly escaped death when he fell into an ambush by the Algerian army in the maquis of Imsouhel, in the wilaya of Tizi Ouzou.

After the death of Abdelmalek Droukdel, AQIM announced on 21 November 2020 that Abu Ubaidah Youssef al-Annabi had been appointed to succeed him.

On 29 September 2015, the U.S. State Department designated al-Annabi as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order (E.O.) 13224.

On 28 March 2023, the government of Burkina Faso suspended the broadcasting of French state-owned media France 24 after they aired an interview with al-Annabi. The country's information minister described the channel as, "not only acting as a mouthpiece for these terrorists but worse".