 According to Muhannad, the primary reason for the mutiny was Umarov's disobedience of the mujahideen shura council's consensus that he step down; in response, Saifullah Gubdenski - leader of the Dagestani fighters - fiercely condemned Muhannad by accusing him and his foreign predecessors of "neglecting the aspirations of local rebel leaders" and lashing out at the "outsiders' selfish desire to install their men in leading positions in traditionally parochial" Caucasian militant groups.Furthermore, the vast majority of insurgents in the republics surrounding Chechnya continued to support Umarov, at one point reaching out for external theological support via the London-based Syrian Salafi ideologue named Abd al-Mun'im Mustafa Halima (also known as Abu Basir al-Tartusi), who called on Muhannad to "either repent and obey Emir Doku Abu Osman (Dokka Umarov) or leave the [North] Caucasus and return home.