Abu Seif al-Makdasi

Nidal Awadalla, also known as Abu Seif al-Makdasi and Fadi al-Yarmur, was a Palestinian Islamic State terrorist. In 2018, after fighting in the Syrian Civil War, he returned to Palestine ostensibly with the goal of joining Hamas and avenging the death of his father, Sheikh Awadalla, at the hands of the Israelis, but also to raise the flag of ISIL in Palestine on behalf of Abu Hazem.

Biography[]

Nidal Awadalla was born in Palestine, the son of imam Sheikh Awadalla and Umm Nidal, and the brother of Samir Awadalla. He attended school in Europe, where he did drugs and patronized prostitutes in Amsterdam. The murder of his father by rogue Israeli Mista'arvim operatives in 2015 radicalized Nidal, who traveled to Syria to fight in the Syrian Civil War with the kunya of "Abu Seif al-Makdasi". Makdasi's affiliation with the Islamic State, which he believed would redeem his past misbehavior, caused his father to ignore his calls.

Makdasi was trained in the usage of explosives before returning to the West Bank in 2018 to hunt down his father's killer Doron Kabilio. Makdasi collaborated with Hamas arch-terrorist Walid al-Abed to attempt an ambush of Doron and Amos Kabilio as they bought feed for their farm, but one of the ambushers was killed, and Izat Abu Kwaider temporarily escaped. Abu Kwaider was captured by Sheikh Abu Ala'a and handed over to Shin Bet, which used him to call al-Makdasi and arrange for Kabilio to go to the Great Mosque of Nablus, ostensibly for a meeting with Abu Kwaider, but instead to be ambushed by Makdasi. Doron intended to serve as the bait for the trap and allow for Shin Bet to sweep in and take down Makdasi. Makdasi was one step ahead, ambushing the ambushers with an RPG before fleeing on a motorcycle and luring Mista'arvim colonel Mickey Moreno into an IED trap that killed him. While Makdasi was popular among many rank-and-file Hamas terrorists, he was distrusted by Hamas West Bank leader Abu Samara.

While Makdasi was able to build a sizeable cell of Arab students at Birzeit University who learned Hebrew and disguised themselves as Jews, his insistence on doing things his own way led to a heated argument with Abu Samara and a growing divide with Walid. Walid later cut ties with Abu Seif on behalf of Hamas and encouraged members of Abu Seif's cell to join him in leaving. Makdasi turned to Abu Karim for financial support for his men and their families, but Abu Karim was ordered not to help his young associate, and he instead advised Abu Seif to settle his problems with Walid.

Abu Seif forced Walid's henchman Abed to give him Doron's address, and he visited Doron's home while Doron was away, telling his son that he was a friend from the army before leaving on finding that Doron was not there. Upon finding this out, Doron interrogated Abu Seif's brother Samir about Abu Seif's intentions, but Samir knew nothing of his brother's actions. Shortly after, Abu Seif reconnected with his ISIL affiliate Abu Hazem, who sent Abu Seif the address of an ISIL agent in Nazareth and demanded action on ISIL's behalf, apart from the assassination of Mista'arvim's undercover operations chief Moreno.

Not long after the Israelis failed to lure Abu Seif into a meeting with the cooperating Hamas leader Abu Samara, Abu Seif filmed himself swearing an oath of allegiance to ISIL's leader Abu Uthman al-Basrawi, causing the Israelis to fear that he was planning something big. While Abu Seif's cell members prepared for their attack, Abu Seif visited the home of Doron's father in the Negev as Doron drove Shirin - who had been staying with them in the Negev - to the airport to leave for France. Abu Seif had a film crew roll their cameras as he beheaded Amos and stated that it was in revenge for his father's death.

Within days, the Israelis interrogated the captive Walid al-Abed into giving up Makdasi's hideout at Abu Naim's barbershop in the Old City of Nablus' Yasmini quarter. Doron's team planted a listening device under one of the barber shop's chairs in preparation for an operation against Makdasi. Meanwhile, Makdasi had Maher Muhammad Imad Asheikh plant a listening device in his father Abu Maher's ashtray so that he could spy on the Palestinian Authority police's activities, and he overheard his landlady Hanan Haddad - with whom he had previously gotten along well - inform Abu Maher that she suspected Makdasi of lying about his identity. Not long after, Israeli forces raided the barbershop where Makdasi was hiding out, and Makdasi accidentally killed his brother during the shootout before fleeing on foot as a riot ruined the Israelis' pursuit.

Having narrowly escaped, Makdasi retrieved a horde of cash and a new SIM card from a hilltop near Nablus, and he set about coordinating his final attack, the Tel Aviv truck bombing plot. However, the captured Maher revealed the bomb plot to Shin Bet, and the bombers Ali and Ahmad were killed by Israeli SWAT troopers before they could drive their truck to its target. While SWAT teams focused on finding the other trucks, Makdasi and his lieutenant Musa al-Khader kidnapped Doron and his son Idodai and took them to a ruined building south of the Balata refugee camp, where they were to be killed in an ISIL propaganda video.

However, the walls closed in on Makdasi as his sister-in-law Marwa was forced to give up Makdasi's new phone number to Shin Bet, the Mista'arvim captured one of his child associates and forced him to call Makdasi's phone to allow for the team to track Makdasi's location, and Abu Samara learned about al-Khader from Abu Karim. Abu Samara and his militants crashed the execution, Abu Samara berated Abu Seif for kidnapping a child, and, after Abu Samara shot Doron in the leg, a shootout ensued. All of the Hamas terrorists (apart from the fleeing Abu Samara) were killed, as was al-Khader, while Doron retrieved al-Khader's pistol and wounded Makdasi. He then joined his son in cornering the wounded Makdasi, told his son to leave the room, and executed Makdasi with a gunshot to the head, avenging his father's death.