Abu Omar al-Shishani

Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili (; 11 January 1986 – 10 July 2016), known by his nom de guerre Abu Omar al-Shishani or Omar al-Shishani, was a Georgian-Chechen jihadist who, as one of the Chechen mujahideen in Syria, served as the leader of the Muhajireen Battalion before defecting and becoming a commander for the Islamic State, and was previously a sergeant in the Georgian Army. and seven months later the US government announced a reward up to US$5 million for information leading to his capture.

Batirashvili grew up in the largely Kist-populated Muslim village of Birkiani, in the Pankisi Gorge, an impoverished region of northeast Georgia on the border with Chechnya. He was one of three sons, all of whom would convert to Islam against their father's wishes later in life. During his childhood, his father was rarely present, as he spent long periods of time working in Russia, and the children were mostly raised by their mother. In his youth, he worked as a shepherd in the hills above the gorge. In the 1990s, the Pankisi Gorge was a major transit point for fighters in support of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in the Second Chechen War, and it was there that Batirashvili reportedly came into contact with the Chechen rebels moving into Russia. According to his father, a young Batirashvili secretly helped Chechen fighters into Russia and sometimes joined them on missions against Russian troops. He rose to the rank of sergeant in a newly formed intelligence unit, and during the 2008 Russo-Georgian War he served near the front line in the Battle of Tskhinvali, spying on Russian tank columns and relaying their coordinates to Georgian artillery units.

Muhajireen Brigade His first command was the Muhajireen Brigade, an Islamist jihadist group made up of foreign fighters that was formed in the summer of 2012. His unit became involved in the Battle of Aleppo, and in October 2012, they assisted the Al-Nusra Front in a raid on an air defense and Scud missile base in Aleppo.

In March 2013, Kavkaz Center reported that the Muhajireen Brigade had merged with two Syrian jihadist groups called Jaish Muhammad and Kataeb Khattab to form a new group called Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, or Army of Emigrants and Helpers. The group played a key role in the August 2013 capture of Menagh Air Base, which culminated in a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) driven by two of their members killing and wounding many of the last remaining Syrian Arab Armed Forces defenders within the airbase. A branch of the Muhajireen Brigade was involved in the 2013 Latakia offensive.

Islamic State In May 2013, Batirashvili was appointed northern commander for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, with authority over its military operations and forces in northern Syria, specifically Aleppo, Raqqa, Latakia, and northern Idlib Provinces. By late 2013, he was the ISIL emir (leader) for northern Syria and was operating in and around Aleppo Province particularly out of al-Bab. He was also in charge of foreign ISIL fighters from Chechnya and elsewhere in the Caucasus. Units under his command participated in major assaults on Syrian military bases in and around Aleppo, including the capture of Menagh Air Base in August 2013. However, Seyfullah denied these allegations and claimed that the dispute was due to his refusal to join ISIL with Batirashvili. In late 2013, Batirashvili was replaced as leader of Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar by another Chechen commander known as Salahuddin Shishani, as most of the Chechen members of the group did not support Batirashvili's support of ISIL, due to their preexisting oath to the Caucasus Emirate militant group and its leader Dokka Umarov.

According to his father, Batirashvili called him once since he left for Syria to tell him that he was now married to a Chechen woman and had a daughter named Sophia. He is said to have overseen the group's prison facility inside their capital Raqqa, where foreign hostages may have been held. By 2016, Batirashvili led special forces battalions of the Islamic State, in particular a unit named "the group of the central directorate", which appeared to be the primary special forces strike force of the group.

Death Batirashvili was reported killed on numerous occasions. In 2014, there were reports that he had been killed in various parts of Syria and Iraq in May, June, August and October, all of which proved to be untrue. The US Treasury Department added Batirashvili to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists on 24 September 2014.

There were further reports of his death in 2015: in May, June and October. On 27 December Russian News Agency TASS, quoting EIN news, claimed that American special forces had captured Batirashvili near Kirkuk in Iraq. This report was denied by a US Department of Defense spokesman.

In March 2016, several unnamed U.S. officials told CNN that Batirashvili may have been killed in a targeted airstrike on 4 March near the Syrian town of al-Shadadi; however, they were unable to confirm his death. Other officials said that he had been "critically injured" in the strike, and that U.S. military intelligence were assessing whether or not he had died. On 12 March, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that Batirashvili had become clinically dead following the U.S. airstrikes, with the IS commander in a critical condition and unable to breathe without the use of life-support machines. On 14 March 2016, two U.S. officials told CNN that there was confirmation that Batirashvili had died after the airstrike. A U.S. military spokesman erroneously "confirmed" that Batirashvili had died outside IS's main stronghold of Raqqa in Syria. IS's media wing Amaq News Agency in a released statement denied that he had been killed.

On 13 July 2016, IS announced that Batirashvili had died during battle in the town of Al-Shirqat in Iraq. The U.S. admitted that their previous claim of killing Batirashvili was incorrect and that they had targeted him again on 10 July 2016. The US was still verifying reports of Batirashvili's death. U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed Batirashvili's death during a press conference a month later.

Aftermath On 19 July 2018, Turkish authorities announced that they captured five IS suspects on 4 July in Istanbul including Seda Dudurkaeva, wife of Batirashvili, whose father is Asu Dudurkaev of Chechen origin and clan Mulko/Chanti, a former Chechen minister, who was sacked by Ramzan Kadyrov from his position due to his failure to prevent his daughter from travelling to join her first husband, Hamzat Borchashvili, in Syria. On 24 July, Batirashvili's older brother, Tamaz Batirashvili, died from his wounds after being injured by a US-led airstrike in the town of al-Shaddadi four months earlier.