article_snippet: El-Araj, 23, was killed two weeks later during a firefight.
article_snippet: Omar al-Shishani has  moved from the conflicts of the Caucasus, south of Russia to become one of the most feared commanders in the ISIS army now terrorising Syria and Iraq .
article_snippet: Omar al-Shishani, whose real name is Tarkhan Batirashvili, is an ethnic Chechen from the Caucasus nation of Georgia, specifically from the Pankisi Valley, a centre of Georgia's Chechen community and once a stronghold for militants.
article_snippet: Omar al-Shishani fought in the brief conflict between Russia and Georgia in 2008 and became a jihadist after being discharged from the Georgian military on health grounds after contracting tuberculosis.
article_snippet: After recuperating and being refused re-enlistment, Omar al-Shishani was arrested for stockpiling weapons and jailed in September 2010.
article_snippet: Following Omar al-Shishani release, Omar al-Shishani travelled to Istanbul in Turkey in March 2012 to join Chechen rebels in the Syrian conflict.
article_snippet: In May 2013, Shishani switched to supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and has become The group's military commander in Syria, leading The group on an offensive to take over a broad stretch of territory leading to the Iraq border.
article_snippet: Numerous reports of Omar al-Shishani death since then are thought to be untrue.