Terrorist Leader Al-Shishani’s Death to Deteriorate ISIL’s Vulnerable Situations in Syria, Iraq

“Al-Shishani was the top official in charge of planning and coordinating the ISIL’s military operations in Iraq and Syria, recruitment of fresh forces in Caucasus, the top commander of thousands of ISIL fighters form Chechnya and the mastermind behind the capture of Mosul in Northern Iraq, therefore, his absence in leadership of ISIL will incur heavy costs on the groups,” the analysts underlined.

“Al-Shishani was a charismatic figure amongst ISIL’s top commanders. He was actually a symbol of ISIL’s international plans to expand their territories across the historical lands of the so-called Islamic Caliphates,” Russian expert Sergei Brustakov said, adding, “Death of al-Shishani will leave negative impacts on the unity of the terrorist groups affiliated to the ISIL, I mean the ISIL can not find a charismatic commander similar to al-Shishani to unite its forces.”

“On the other hand, al-Shishani’s absence will bring about very good opportunity for the other terrorist groups, mainly al-Nusra Front, to attract fresh forces without any serious rival,” the Russian expert said.

Reports said on Thursday that the ISIL terrorist group eventually admitted that the murderous red-bearded militant, also known as Abu Omar al-Shishani, was killed.

The revelation, published by ISIL mouthpiece Amaq Agency, came four months after several sources publicly reported al-Shishani’s death.

Omar the Chechen was born in 1986 in Georgia, which was then still part of the Soviet Union, and had a reputation as a top military adviser to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Born with the name Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili, the notorious militant once fought as a rebel in Chechnya before joining Georgia’s military in 2006.

He fought against Russian troops before being discharged two years later for medical reasons, according to US officials.

He was arrested in 2010 for weapons possession and spent more than a year in jail, before leaving Georgia in 2012 for Istanbul and then Syria, a US official said. The militants then joined the ISIL group and pledged allegiance to Baghdadi and joined ISIL in 2013

His death is one of the most successful operations to take out ISIL leadership in Iraq and Syria since May, when special operations forces killed the man who directed the group’s oil, gas and financial operations.