Khaled Al-Asad

Overview

Middle East

Khaled Al-Asad is the leader of a militant rebel faction in the unnamed Middle Eastern country during the campaign in Call of Duty 4. He is featured at the start of the game when he stages a coup d etat and shoots the president unstated Middle Eastern country. This is viewed from the first-person perspective of the president, allowing players to see Al-Asad up close and get a feel for his brutality, until he finally executes the president on national television. It is later revealed that he is being funded and supplied by Imran Zakhaev, who wants to divert the attention of international forces away from his own uprising in Russia. This ploy is largely successful, as it bring the United States and allied forces to invade the nation and attempt to stop Al-Asad, although a British S.A.S. team aids the Russian Loyalists in defense against Zakhaev's army. Back in the Middle East, Al-Asad is supposed to be broadcasting a speech live from a t.v. station in the capital city. This intel turns out to be false, as soldiers from the U.S. Marine Force Recon storm the station and find that, despite heavy resistance throughout the building, it is only a recording set up to distract the allied troops. From there, he is tracked to the presidential palace, and the large Marine force attempts to converge on the building in hopes of capturing him. However, they receive word that there is a nuclear device (supplied by Zakhaev) in the building and a team is sent in to disarm it while all other forces retreat to a safe distance. The nuke does detonate, unfortunately, and kills a large number of the allied force, including the players' character. This explosion is later referenced by General Shepherd, who claims 30,000 Marines were lost.

Azerbaijan

After the nuclear explosion in the Middle East, it is determined that Al-Asad fled the country prior to the invasion. Intel directs Captain Price's S.A.S. team to a small village in the nearby country of Azerbaijan, where Al-Asad is rumored to have a safe house. Upon arrival, they find that the villagers have been killed, and there is a large militant presence in the area. The squad moves up through the village and toward a farm at the top of a hill. It is there in a barn that they find Khaled Al-Asad and capture him. Shortly afterward he receives a phone call, which Cpt. Price answers, and from which they learn that Imran Zakhaev supplied the nuclear weapon used against the Marines. After gaining the intelligence that they needed, Al-Asad is executed and the S.A.S. team waits for extraction.

Speech

Below is Al-Asad's speech, from the opening execution scene: