This Top Islamic State Military Commander Was Trained By The U.S. Military

Photo: Abu Omar al Shishani, born Tarkhan Batirashvili in Georgia’s Pankisi Valley, is seen in an image captured from an Islamic State video posted on the Internet. The Pankisi Valley is home to perhaps as many as 150 Islamic State fighters. Screenshot from ISIS Video

McClatchy News: U.S. training helped mold top Islamic State military commander

* Tarkhan Batirashvili was a natural military star when he joined Georgia’s military
* Fought the Russians during 2008 war, but left Georgia for Turkey in 2012
* In Syria, he’s known as Abu Omar al Shishani, commander in several major victories

KILLIS, TURKEY: The 15 Chechens looking to cross the border from Turkey to Syria didn’t strike Abdullah as particularly important or unusual.

It was early summer in 2012, and as a smuggler based in the Turkish border town of Killis, Abdullah, who’d fled his home village in Syria because of fighting on the outskirts of Aleppo, was used to secretive groups of foreigners – journalists, aid workers and many recently aspiring jihadists – hiring him to cross Turkish military lines at the border while avoiding what was then still a significant Syrian government presence in northern Syrian.

WNU Editor: I have lost count on the number of times I have read reports that he was killed .... and that (with his distinct red beard) has made him a legend. He will be killed one day .... unfortunately he (and his followers) will have caused a lot of harm between now and then.