Zulfi Hoxha
Born (1992-01-16) January 16, 1992

Zulfi Hoxha (Arabic: ذو الفي خوجة; born 16 January 1992), also known by the nom de guerre (kunya) Abu Hamza al-Amriki (Arabic: أبو حمزة الأميركي), was[lower-alpha 1] an Albanian-American Islamic State (IS) senior commander and recruiter of foreign fighters fighting in Syria and in Iraq.[1]

Background and education

The son of an Albanian-American pizzeria owner, Ramadan Hoxha, in Margate City, New Jersey.[2] Hoxha's parents immigrated to the United States from Albania.[3] He is a 2010 graduate of Atlantic City High School.[3] He was described as shy and closed.[2] Hoxha was described by former co-workers as using to joke "I Hate You, Americans."[4]

Islamist career

Hoxha left the United States on 6 April 2015 for Turkey and four days later joined an IS training camp in Syria.[1] Usaama Rahim and David Wright, co-conspirators in the 2015 Boston beheading plot who were "part of a wider network that was in communication with Islamic State operatives in Syria," raised the funds and made the arrangements that enabled Hoxha to travel to Turkey, make contact with, and join ISIS in Syria.[1]

Within six months he was featured in a video where several captured Kurdish soldiers are beheaded; Hoxha is the first to behead one of the captives.[1] It might be the first known case of an American IS member beheading individuals on video, and it is the first case in which the US government confirmed the name and American citizenship of an IS member featured in IS media.[1] He is present in the propaganda video We Will Surely Guide Them To Our Ways published in May 2017, where he says in English "Are you incapable of stabbing a kaffir [non-Muslim] with a knife, throwing him off of a building, or running him over with a car? Liberate yourself from hellfire by killing a kaffir", located in Nineveh in northwestern Iraq.[1][5][6] In an alternative translation by La Stampa and the BBC, in the May 2017 video Al-Amriki makes an appeal to Muslims to avenge the "women and children killed by the uncontrolled bombing of (Mosul by) the United States," saying, "Are you not able to use a knife against the infidels, to throw them from a building, to run them over with a car?"[7] As Al Ameriki, he also appeared in a video showcasing ISIS weaponry.[8]

Hoxha is one of only a "few dozen" Americans to have gone overseas to join Islamist terrorists; others include John Georgelas and Abdullah Ramo Pazara.[9][1] As of 2023, his fate is unknown, either he disappeared from justice, or was killed in Syria.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ It is unclear if Hoxha is still alive, and if so, what his rank is in ISIL, post-2018.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hughes, Meleagrou-Hitchens & Clifford 2018.
  2. 1 2 Everett 2018.
  3. 1 2 Greenberg & McCone 2018.
  4. ↑ Greenberg & McCrone 2018.
  5. ↑ Connor 2017.
  6. ↑ LeMeire 2017.
  7. ↑ La Stampa 2017.
  8. ↑ BBC 2007.
  9. ↑ McCoy 2018.

Sources

Further reading

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