[4] Zebari was born to a Kurdish Iraqi family in Aqrah, a city in Duhok Governorate, and grew up in Mosul.

In 1992, he was appointed a member of the executive committee of the Iraqi National Congress and was made part of its Presidential Council in 1999.

[9] In July 2012, he said that al-Qaeda in Iraq members had gone to Syria, where the militants previously received support and weapons.

[14] On 21 September 2016, he was dismissed from his position as finance minister after losing a no-confidence motion over allegations of corruption.

[16] Zebari tried to participate as a candidate in the presidential elections in 2022, but was banned by the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq over allegations of corruption against him dating back to 2016.

[19] His late sister Hamael Mahmoud Agha Zebari had married Mustafa Barzani and gave birth to Massoud.