Abu Shabal is the main antagonist of the 2012 action film, Act of Valor.

He is a Chechen terrorist responsible for the deaths of several young children at an international school, alongside a United States ambassador and his son. He is also intent with planning a terrorist plot to bomb Las Vegas via going underground through Mexico.

He is portrayed by Jason Cottle.

Biography.[]

Abu Shabal is first shown in the Philippines, where he is shown driving an ice cream truck to deliver ice cream to children, which in reality, is a vehicle-borned IED meant to lure the students into a trap. While they were being served ice cream, Shabal began to exit his vehicle as it blew up, killing the children, including the United States ambassador to the Philippines and his son. Following this, he began escaping to a training camp in Indonesia, along with the Philippines, according to a briefing by the CIA and the Navy. At this time, Christo, a drug smuggler and childhood friend, and his henchmen to Colombia, where they were able to ambush two CIA agents, Walter Ross and Lisa Morales. Although they kill Walter, they were able to capture Lisa and take her to a compound in Costa Rica, where they torture her for information. This prompts the CIA to send in a Navy SEAL team to rescue Lisa Morales and extract her.

Shabal later goes to a warehouse in Ukraine, where he discovers that his associates are creating new bomb vests equipped with plastic explosives and ceramic ball bearings, which can evade metal detection and can be worn on any clothing without attracting attention. He later meets with Christo and has a discussion about their plan and why things have moved on from them, and that they have been meeting occassionally since he knows the CIA are spying on them. Despite Christo holding his bargain that he would retire, along with the fact that he'll use his associates to assist him, Shabal is enraged about why he tried to use everything to get there along with sacrificing his own men just so he can get there.

Shabal later arrives in Somalia for an arms transfer where he meets with his fellow Jihadist men, where its revealed that he plans to switch planes and head to different border crossings in Mexico, though they need to finish preparations first. Navy SEALs AJ and Ray, who have been spying on his plane, began to track the aircraft where it is revealed to land in an island somewhere near Baja California. Meanwhile, SEAL Team 4 raid Christo's yacht and capture him, where fellow CIA chief Otto Miller interrogates him on Shabal's next plot. Christo reveals his connection with Shabal, and tells him about the special suicide vests Shabal's associates created, and his plan is to send his Jihadists through the Mexican border undetected and cause major panic in several American cities and weaken the economy. Although Rorke tells him how to stop it, Christo reveals that he can't since he is too powerless.

SEAL Team 7, led by Rorke, begins raiding Tedros Island and kill several terrorists, although Shabul and eight others manage to escape via boat. At the boat, Shabal explains to the rest of his terrorist cell of their planned coordinates targets, which include Las Vegas, Nevada, and Seattle, Washington. SEAL Team 7 are then briefed that Shabal and the Jihadists plan to cross the border via a tunnel network in an abandoned milk factory at Mexicali, and that they will be joining with Mexican Special Forces leader, Pedros, to stop the attack. Shah and his terrorists begin to board a bus for their plot where his informants tell him that they are moving up north during sunrise and that the other group will head to Texas via Juarez. They then arrive at the abandoned milk factory where his informants tell them what tunnel they'll cross to get through the border.

When the Navy SEALs and Commander Pedros begin raiding the factory and kill several cartel members guarding it, Shabal tells his informants that they must leave now. Although Shabal and the terrorists decide to engage the SEALs, he informs one of them to stay as a distraction. As several terrorists and cartel are killed, with Commander Pedros being wounded by one of them, Shabal tells the female suicide bomber that she needs to blow herself up so the SEALs can be killed if they enter. Hesitant, Shabal tells her that she'll meet her husband in heaven. As the SEALs continued their firefight, Dave and another SEAL encounter the female suicide bomber, prompting him and his comrade to escape which the resulting blast nearly kills them. Meanwhile, Rorke is forced to sacrifice himself when a terrorist throws a grenade, allowing the rest of his comrades to escape. Abu Shabal and the other surviving terrorists begin making their escape through the tunnels as Dave began pursuing them. Shabal tells them to leave as he and another begun to cover for them. Dave is able to kill the escaping terrorists, but is wounded by Shabal in the process. Weakened, he was able to kill a surviving terrorist as he began to make his escape through the tunnels. Shabal began to finish Dave off as he lay injured only to be intercepted and killed by Sonny. Thus, marking him as the last surviving terrorist to be killed and foiling his plot to attack major American cities to cause economic turmoil.

Trivia[]

• Although his character seems to be Chechen, his actor, Jason Cottle, is American.
• He only appears in a few scenes despite being the main antagonist.