Abu Omar al-Shishani

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Abu Omar al-Shishani ( Arabic أبو عمر الشيشاني, DMG Abū ʿUmar aš-Šīšānī  , 'Father Omar, the Chechen'; civil Georgian თარხან ბათირაშვილი Tarchan Batirashvili , born January 11, 1986 in Birkiani , Georgian SSR , Soviet Union ; † July 10, 2016 in Ash-Shirqat , Iraq ) was a Georgian Islamist terrorist and jihadist and one of the leaders of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS).

Life

Abu Omar al-Shishani was born as Tarchan Batirashvili in 1986 in the Pankissi Valley , a region in northern Georgia that is mostly inhabited by Chechens ( Kisten ). Al-Shishani was the son of a Christian Bats and a Muslim Chechen woman. Chechen rebels and jihadists often withdrew from Russia in the 1990s . The young Tarchan came into contact with extremists at an early age.

After graduating from school, Batirashvili enlisted in the Georgian army , where he served from 2007 to 2010. During this time, he was also trained by US military instructors. In the 2008 Caucasus War, he worked on the Georgian side on the front line and was promoted to officer. In 2010, however, Batirashvili was fired from the army due to tuberculosis and became unemployed . Despite a long stay in hospital, he was no longer able to sign up for the military and was therefore “extremely disillusioned”, according to his father.

A few months later he was sentenced to prison in Georgia for illegally possessing weapons. He was radicalized in prison, and after his release he left for Syria in spring 2012 . There he adopted his battle name (Abu Omar al-Shishani) and took control of the jihadist unit Jaish al-Muhadschirin wal-Ansar , which initially fought on the side of the al-Nusra front and achieved some successes near Aleppo scored against the Syrian army . In May 2013 at the latest, he joined the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS).

Al-Shishani had been an IS functionary since November 2013 and commanded its militias in northern Syria , he was part of the top leadership circle of ISIS and one of its most famous faces. In his speeches he often spoke Russian and threatened to bring the jihad to Russia as well. The United States put a bounty on him. On March 4, 2016, he was critically wounded in an air raid. According to ISIS, he was killed on July 10, 2016 as a result of another US air strike. This report is still being checked for truth by the USA.

At the beginning of September 2016 it became known that Gulmurod Khalimov, a former commander in chief of the OMON police special unit from Tajikistan , had been appointed war minister of IS and thus the direct successor of al-Shishani.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bassem Miroue: Red- bearded Chechen is the new face of Isis. Welt.de from July 2, 2014, accessed on October 19, 2014
  2. ↑ Как грузинский сержант стал лидером джихада в Ираке. BBC, July 8, 2014 (Russian).;
  3. ↑ a b c Alan Cullison: Meet the Rebel Commander in Syria That Assad, Russia and the US All Fear. Tarkhan Batirashvili, Ethnic Chechen, Leads Group Deeply at Odds with Western-Backed Rebels in Syria. Wall Street Journal, November 19, 2013 .;
  4. ↑ The face of evil: Young, red-bearded Chechen who has become the most recognizable commander of Isis terror group. Daily Mail , July 2, 2014 (English).;
  5. ^ Mitchell Prothero: US training helped mold top Islamic State military commander. McClatchy, September 15, 2015, archived from the original on September 23, 2015 .;
  6. ↑ Silvia Stöber: IS Commander Al Schischani - Once a soldier, today a jihadist. 17th November 2014 .;
  7. ^ Bill Roggio: Chechen commander forms 'Army of Emigrants,' integrates Syrian groups. In: longwarjournal.org. March 28, 2013 (English).;
  8. ^ Treasury Designates Twelve Foreign Terrorist Fighter Facilitators. US Department of the Treasury, September 24, 2014 .;
  9. ↑ Florian Hassel, Sonja Zekri: Warriors from the Caucasus. “A Chechen does what his leader orders.” Süddeutsche.de, August 2, 2014, accessed on October 19, 2014
  10. ↑ Christoph Sydow: The red jihadist . Spiegel Online , October 21, 2014
  11. ↑ Thomas Joscelyn on Twitter. Retrieved August 5, 2016 .
  12. ↑ Jeff Seldin: Hard-to-Kill IS Commander Targeted by Pentagon July 10. Voice of America, July 14, 2016 (English).;
  13. ↑ Isis: US-trained Tajik special forces chief Gulmurod Khalimov becomes Isis 'war minister'. International Business Times, September 16, 2016 (English).;
personal data
SURNAME Shishani, Abu Omar al-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Batirashvili, Tarkhan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Georgian jihadist, leader of the terrorist organization Islamic State
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1986
PLACE OF BIRTH Birkiani , Georgian SSR
DATE OF DEATH July 10, 2016
Place of death Ash Shirqat , Iraq