Little Omar

Yacef Omar, better known by his (meaning little Omar), was an Algerian child soldier and prominent figure of the Algerian War. He is best known for his involvement in the Battle of Algiers during the Algerian War.

Biography Yacef Omar was born in January 1944 at the Casbah citadel in Algiers to an ethnic Kabyle family (a Berber ethnic group predominant in Algeria). and the nephew of Algerian revolutionary, Saadi Yacef. Omar grew up in a big familial house with Yacef, and came across prominent Algerian revolutionary figures like Abane Ramdane, Krim Belkacem, Colonel Ouamrane, Rabah Bitat, and Ali La Pointe who visited his uncle regularly. This inspired him to join the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN), albeit his very young age. Little Omar became the liaison officer between the fighters and the leaders of the FLN during the Battle of Algiers.

Working as a courier between the FLN militants and leadership, he was able to cross all police roadblocks and elude the French paratroopers in the hardest moments of the Battle of Algiers.

On the night of October 8, 1957, French Army paratrooper commandos of the 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment destroyed the house where Omar was hiding alongside other FLN militants following their refusal to surrender. This killed him along with Hassiba Ben Bouali, Ali La Pointe, Hamid Bouhamidi and 16 others. He was 13 years old at the time of his death.

In popular culture Omar is played by Mohamed Ben Kassen in the 1966 Italian-Algerian movie The Battle of Algiers.