Muslim Abu Walid al Shishani

Murad Margoshvili
Born26 May 1972 (1972-05-26)[1]
Duisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union[1]
(now Georgia)
Died11 December 2021 (2021-12-12) (aged 49) (claimed)
Jisr al-Shughour, Idlib Governorate, Syria
AllegianceChechen Republic of Ichkeria
Junud al-Sham[2]
Soviet Army (from ?- ?)[3]
Battles / warsFirst Chechen War[3]
Second Chechen War
Syrian Civil War[2]

Murad Akhmetovich Margoshvili,[1] also known by his nom de guerre Muslim Abu Walid al Shishani (taken from the Saudi fighter Abu al-Walid),[4] is the commander of Junud al-Sham in Syria.[2] Al Shishani was sanctioned by the US State Department on 24 September 2014[5] for reportedly building a base for foreign fighters.[6] While Margoshvili is a Georgian national, he is also a Kist, a Chechen subethnos living mostly in the Pankisi Gorge.[7]

According to Russian sources, Margoshvili was killed in Syria by an airstrike of the Russian Air Force on 11 December 2021 in the city of Jisr al-Shughour.[8]

  1. ^ a b c "Ethnic Kist Murad Margoshvili on the Specially Designated Global Terrorists list". Front News. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  2. ^ a b c "Split Among North Caucasian Fighters in Syria". The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst. 2 July 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  3. ^ a b "An In-Depth Look At Chechen Fighters In Syria – Part II: Junoud Al-Sham Commander Muslim Abu Al-Walid Al-Shishani". MEMRI Jihad & Terrorism Studies Project. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  4. ^ "The Clear Banner: 'Let Him Eat Leaves:' North Caucasians Aligned to Islamic State Slam Caucasus Emirate Emir". Jihadology. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  5. ^ "Behind Islamic State's Battlefield Gains, Battle-Hardened Chechens". Voice of America News. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  6. ^ "U.S. imposes financial sanctions on Islamist fighters". Reuters. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  7. ^ Moore, Cerwyn (27 May 2015). "Foreign Bodies: Transnational Activism, the Insurgency in the North Caucasus and "Beyond"" (PDF). Terrorism and Political Violence. 27 (3): 395–415. doi:10.1080/09546553.2015.1032035. ISSN 0954-6553. S2CID 56451099.
  8. ^ Российские ВКС уничтожили главу террористической группы в Сирии аш-Шишани