ISIS ‘Defense Secretary’ Omar Al-Shishani Is Dead, But The Terror Group Claims He’s Alive

After reportedly being wounded in a U.S. airstrike last week, ISIS “Secretary of Defense” Omar al-Shishani has succumbed to his injuries, officials have confirmed.

The death of the man whose Arabic nickname translates to “Omar the Chechen” is a being touted as a big victory for U.S. forces, because it should cut off ISIS’s ability to recruit fighters from the terrorist leader’s native country.

Omar al-Shishani was considered so valuable by the U.S. government that a $5 million bounty was put on his head for any information that led to him being brought to justice, CBS News reported.

The airstrike that ultimately killed Omar al-Shishani took place around March 4. At the time, the terrorist leader was in an area of Syria called al-Shaddadeh for a “shura,” or meeting with other ISIS officials to reinforce fighters who’d suffered defeat by local forces supported by the U.S., CNN reported.

Al-Shaddadeh is a former ISIS stronghold that was captured in February by those local forces, the Kurdish Syria Democratic Forces.

The U.S. confirms the death of #ISIS operative Omar al-Shishani https://t.co/iegvoRhKjH pic.twitter.com/LyBUZUK6cV

— CNN (@CNN) March 14, 2016

It was unknown at the time that Omar al-Shishani was in this meeting during the airstrike. The attack was described as “multiple waves of planes and drone aircraft.” The leader was killed alongside 12 other ISIS fighters.

At first, U.S. officials weren’t certain that Omar al-Shishani had perished in the attack at all, and the Pentagon hasn’t been consistent in reporting where the strike occurred. At first, officials specified it happened in al-Shaddadeh, but later moved the location several miles away in al-Hawl.

CNN described the airstrike as unusual, because it fell into place in short order. Aircraft and drones were already in the air nearby, and the intelligence that Omara al-Shishani was in the area was sudden and the strike called in quickly.

Soon after the attack, jihadists took to social media to declare that Omar al-Shishani had been wounded but had survived, the New York Times added. The Pentagon at first stated that he was “likely killed,” because intercepts of his communications had stopped; they then realized he was hurt and died later.

ISIS’ media arm, the Aamaq agency, meanwhile denied that Omar al-Shishani perished and hadn’t even been injured.

It’s not clear how spies embedded in the area know Omar al-Shishani is indeed dead.

Iraqi Official, Syrian Activist: Senior IS Leader Omar al-Shishani Dead https://t.co/FxJEkdik79 pic.twitter.com/gSb6UVzSkL

— Jim Clancy (@ClancyReports) March 15, 2016

He was a “battle-tested leader” with experience fighting in Iraq and Syria, according to Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook. Originally named Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili, he hailed from the Soviet Republic of Georgia and was an ethnic Chechen. For this reason, Omar al-Shishani was valuable in his ability to recruit foreign fighters from Chechnya and the Caucus region, a place that breeds ISIS’ fiercest jihadist fighters.

Omar al-Shishani held numerous senior military positions in ISIS, including “minister of war,” and ran a prison in al-Tabqa, near Raqqa, where ISIS probably held foreign hostages. He joined the terror group in 2013 and in May was appointed northern commander with control of military operations and forces in Northern Syria.

Omar al-Shishani joined the military in his native Georgia in 2006. His neighborhood, the Pankisi Valley, was once a stronghold for militants. In the military, he fought the Russians in 2008 in the South Ossetia region and was discharged in 2010 for medical reasons. By 2012, he left for Turkey and from there headed to Syria, where he joined ISIS.

In a grisly detail, the ISIS leader, though reportedly respected in the terror group, was sometimes called “Abu Meat.” This nickname was inspired by his reputation for “sitting in a control room and sending young men to their deaths.” According to the Times, Omara al-Shishani was an “enigma,” even within the Islamic State.

[Image via Orlok/Shutterstock]