ISIL top commander ‘not dead’ after US strike in Syria

Despite US defense officials’ assessments that Omar al-Shishani, a high-ranking commander of the Takfiri Daesh group in Syria, “likely died” in a US airstrike, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the militant has survived the attack.

"He's not dead," Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the UK-based organization, told AFP Wednesday.

American officials, speaking to various media outlets and news agencies on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that the top Takfiri commander had been targeted in an airstrike near the town of al-Shaddadi, situated in the south of the Hasakah province in northeastern Syria, on Friday.

One official went even further, saying, he was “likely dead.”

The director of the pro-opposition monitoring group rejected the allegations, saying the militant, was “seriously injured” and taken to a hospital in ISIL’s de facto capital, Raqqah.

"He was taken from the province of Hasakah to a hospital in Raqqah province where he was treated by a jihadist doctor of European origin," he said.

In September 2014, the US Treasury Department added Shishani along with 10 other militants to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook referred to Shishani as "a battle-tested leader with experience who had led ISIL (IS) fighters in numerous engagements in Iraq and Syria."

The US State Department has placed a $5 million reward on the Daesh commander’s head.

Georgian roots

Known for his signature red beard, Shishani is said to have once been a member of an elite Georgian military unit.

The terrorist, whose name was originally Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili, was born in Georgia in 1986.

Also known as Omar the Chechen, he was reportedly fighting alongside the Georgian armed forces during the country’s short war against Russia in 2008.

Georgia reacted to initial reports about his death, saying it was in tough with the United States authorities over the matter.

"Information about his death was released this morning, but there is still no official confirmation. We are actively maintaining contacts with the American government, and we were told this morning about the probability of Batirashvili's death, yet, I repeat that this is just a probability," Georgian Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli told reporters in the capital Tbilisi on Wednesday.

From 2007 to 2010, Batirashvili was a contract serviceman of the Georgian army during war in South Ossetia, according to Georgian media.

 He was dismissed due to falling ill with tuberculosis, and detained later over storing weapons.

After being released on parole in 2012 over his disease, he joined the Takfir ranks in Syria.

His father, Teimuraz Batirashvili, told reporters in the village of Birkiani in the Pankisi Gorge that he was clueless about the fate of his son, Interfax reported

"I know nothing about my son's death. His death is claimed on a practically monthly basis," he said.

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