He originally led the Allahu Akbar Brigade, a faction of the Free Syrian Army operating in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate with over 800 fighters. According to Al-Jazeera, "Jamal was not only the leader of a battalion but also a top FSA commander for the whole of Syria's eastern region encompassing the Deir ez-Zor Governorate." He led the Eastern Front of the Supreme Military Council (Syria). The Allahu Akbar brigade was a component of the Ahfad al-Rasul Brigade.
On 16 December 2013, he appeared in a video titled Revealing the biggest conspiracy targeting the Islamic State, in which he announced that he had joined the Islamic State.[3]
The degree to which his decision to join the Islamic State was voluntary is disputed. Some characterize his defection as a form of "surrender" to the Islamic State after two of his brothers were abducted, his brother's house was bombed, and several of his combatants were killed. During this period, Jamal narrowly evaded an assassination attempt when a man detonated himself at his headquarters. Jamal established an Islamic State bank branch.
From 2014 onwards, he served as the Islamic State emir for Abu Kamal, Syria, which is his hometown.[4]
In September 2015, he was reportedly appointed as a deputy to Abu Firas al-Iraqi, the governor of the Islamic State Euphrates province located on the border between Iraq and Syria.
Saddam al-Jamal and four other ISIS commanders were apprehended by Iraqi forces on 9 May 2018 on the Syria-Iraq border.[5]