Omar al-Shishani, seen in a new Al Hayat Media Centre video released by the Islamic State(Joanna Paraszczuk/Twitter)
Islamic State Grooms Chechen Fighters Against Putin -- Bloomberg Businessweek
When the Islamic State commander known as “Omar the Chechen” called to tell his father they’d routed the Iraqi army and taken the city of Mosul, he added a stark message: Russia would be next.
“He said ‘don’t worry dad, I’ll come home and show the Russians,’” Temur Batirashvili said from his home in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, on the border with the Russian region of Chechnya. “I have many thousands following me now and I’ll get more. We’ll have our revenge against Russia.”
Read more ....
My Comment: The Muslim insurgency in the Caucasus has been ongoing for years .... so having Chechen fighters showing up in Afghanistan, the Middle East .... this is nothing new. But Omar al-Shishani is a unique individual .... and probably a high priority target for Iraq/Syria/U.S./and Russia.
Here is a good post on Omar al-Shishani .... The Islamic State’s Anbar Offensive and Abu Umar al-Shishani -- Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, War On The Rocks
He looks a little like a young Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn.
ReplyDeleteI think it was in the
ReplyDeletebook Operation
Anaconda that the
author states that
Chechens were like
bogeymen - always
threatened but never
quite found. I
wonder just how
widespread Chechen
involvement is
outside of Chechnya.
ofs
Hard to say ofs. The former Soviet Republics of central asia are a prime area for Islamic militancy. You see Chechens popping up here and there alot, but in a very significant way, I don't know.
ReplyDelete