The Rise of Abdul Hakim al-Shishani: The Istanbul-Based Commander of Chechen Fighters in Idlib

The Rise of Abdul Hakim al-Shishani: The Istanbul-Based Commander of Chechen Fighters in Idlib

In the secretive world of Chechen militants in Syria, the limelight often is shunned and garrulity is considered a sin. Propaganda videos posted online or occasional interviews with journalists or researchers rarely feature these fighters talking about their backgrounds or disclosing personal information. A great number of these militants are still known only by their noms de guerre, which at most reveal their ethnicity, such as “Shishani” for Chechen.

Contrary to the custom among Salafis, few Chechens adopt kunyas, or honorific names that refer to the bearers’ first-born son or daughter. Even some Chechen commanders of major factions operating in Syria manage to remain largely anonymous. Thus, it was likely an unpleasant surprise to Abdul Hakim al-Shishani, the leader of the Latakia-based Ajnad al-Kavkaz (AK) in Syria, when he inadvertently became embroiled in an international controversy after Turkish authorities arrested a group of Russian assassins in November that apparently had him as their prime target (Eurasia Daily Monitor, November 9, 2021).

AK is a Sunni militant group that operates autonomously in Syria and is ideologically opposed to Islamic State (IS), al-Qaeda, and even the Caucasus Emirate (From Chechnya to Syria, July 14, 2017). Al-Shishani had relations to the latter group in the past but has since broken ties with this organization. AK’s operational focus is strictly “on fighting Russia and the Syrian regime” (Russia Matters, April 29, 2021).

Little is known about AK’s leader, al-Shishani, including his exact first name or his birth date. While analysts agree that al-Shishani’s real surname is Azhiyev, there is no consensus on his given name. Foreign researchers tend to refer to him as Rustam, but Russian sources have increasingly been identifying him as “field commander […] Ruslan Azhiyev” (Lenta, November 2, 2021; Obshchaya Gazeta, November 3, 2021). Russia’s financial intelligence unit, Rosfinmonitoring, lists a Ruslan Azhiyev, who was born on April 12, 1981 in the Chechen village of Prigorodnoye in its register of “terrorists and extremists” (Federal Service for Financial Monitoring). The profile seems to fit al-Shishani in every way. However, as no militant affiliation of the man in question is mentioned, additional evidence is needed to affirm if Ruslan is indeed the real name of the Latakia-based leader of AK.

The Origins of Abdul Hakim al-Shishani’s Career

Abdul Hakim al-Shishani began his career as a professional militant in the rebel brigades of the Second Chechen War in the early 2000s. His exploits in that conflict were generally unremarkable. However, at some point at the end of 2007, he was promoted to lead the Caucasus Emirate’s Central Sector in Chechnya. In 2009, when the young commander was seriously wounded, he sought medical treatment in Turkey and was subsequently unable to return to Chechnya (From Chechnya to Syria, April 4, 2015).

He would probably still be languishing in an Istanbul working class suburb if it had not been for the 2011 revolution in neighboring Syria, which was met with brutal violence by the Syrian government and soon devolved into a full-blown armed conflict with different regional and international powers supporting various sides. Never the ones to miss a good opportunity to stick it to a Russian-backed regime, Chechen war veterans, including al-Shishani, headed for Syria. In Syria, they quickly gained prominence as tough fighters and capable battlefield commanders.

By mid-2014, al-Shishani was already in charge of his own fighting unit that would eventually grow into one of the largest foreign-led groups in Syria with an estimated 100 to 200 fighters (The Intercept, September 3, 2016; Diyaruna, January 9, 2018). AK, which is comprised mostly, but not exclusively, of Chechens, played a substantial role in the fighting in Idlib and Latakia provinces. As other North Caucasian groups have disbanded or been subsumed into other groups, AK continues on, although inter-rebel conflicts, which AK is loath to get involved in, compelled it to temporarily suspend its operations in 2017 (From Chechnya to Syria, October 5, 2017).

Ajnad al-Kavkaz’ Challenges

The main challenge for AK, like many other small factions, has been facing the obsessive, but perhaps inevitable, drive by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the most powerful rebel group in the Idlib Governate of Syria, to establish its dominance. Idlib is, after all, the last stronghold of the insurgency against the regime of Bashar al-Assad (Terrorism Monitor, October 13, 2020; Eurasia Daily Monitor, August 2, 2021). Since 2017, HTS has been steadily sidelining rival factions and cracking down on groups that do not recognize its authority or that seek to preserve their autonomy. Examples include Abdul Hakim al-Shishani’s fighters in AK and Junud al-Sham, which is led by another veteran Chechen commander, Muslim al-Shishani. Junud al-Sham, which is HTS’s latest target, was forced to leave its positions in the forested hills of Jabal al-Turkman in Latakia’s countryside after a confrontation with HTS fighters. This incident occurred after HTS had been trying to dismantle the 70-man strong faction for months (Eurasia Daily Monitor, August 2, 2021).

Thus far, AK has managed to avoid a head-on clash with HTS, thanks in no small measure to AK’s relative strength and al-Shishani’s leadership tact. That does not mean AK resists acting against the adversarial moves taken by HTS, however. On one occasion, after HTS had prevented AK from taking part in a fight against al-Assad’s forces in southern rural Idlib, AK accused the larger HTS of “handing the region over to the regime” and focusing its efforts on expelling anti-government groups from the area under its control (Diyaruna, January 9, 2018).

Like  other Chechen militant factions, AK has always sought to preserve its independence because its ultimate goal, which it has never concealed, is to return to Chechnya (Islamic History Video, September 26, 2013; The Intercept, September 3, 2016). Swearing allegiance to HTS, which itself was originally an al-Qaeda affiliate, would indicate AK is subordinating itself to another militant group with its own agenda and a history of ties to al-Qaeda. That would surely damage the prospects of returning to any homeland, let alone the North Caucasus.

At the same time, al-Shishani never shunned alliances or glorified in the fancied freedom of his isolation. In the past, he coordinated at least some military operations with HTS. Such coordination had clear practical utility in ensuring AK’s survival, but it is unclear how long this coexistence can last considering HTS’s ruthless push for hegemony in northwestern Syria.

What Next for Abdul Hakim al-Shishani?

Al-Shishani has been sighted frequently in Istanbul where he has been invited to mediate in various intra-Chechen disputes. [1] Unlike other Chechen war veterans, who keep a very low profile, al-Shishani continues to network with local support communities in Istanbul and has even become involved with groups that attempt to prevent the infiltration of exile circles by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s emissaries. In early September, he forced a former Chechen policeman, who planned to set up home in Istanbul but was suspected by local Chechens to be a Kadyrov agent, to condemn the pro-Moscow regime in Chechnya on camera. Soon thereafter, the former policeman fled Turkey for Chechnya, where, apparently at the instigation of Chechnya’s authorities, he “declared a blood feud against four Chechen families,” including al-Shishani’s, or specifically the Azhiyevs (Kavkazsky Uzel, September 9, 2021).

Turkish authorities allege that the hit-squad tasked with assassinating al-Shishani was acting “on the orders of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov” (Daily Sabah, November 2, 2021). That seems very plausible as the Chechen leader is known for taking any hostile action against, or even criticism of, his authority as a personal affront. It is not clear if al-Shishani will permanently remain in his base in Istanbul, but he seems to be very close to establishing himself as an informal leader of the pro-separatist Chechen émigré community there (Eurasia Daily Monitor, November 9, 2021). The failed attempt to assassinate him indicates that this fact did not go unnoticed in Russia.

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