WASHINGTON –
A March 4 U.S.
airstrike near Shaddadi, Syria, targeted senior Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant leader Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili, also known as Abu Umar
al-Shishani and "Omar the Chechen," Pentagon Press Secretary
Peter Cook said today.
In a statement, Cook
said Batirashvili was a Syrian-based Georgian national who held numerous top
military positions within ISIL, including minister of war.
He is an ISIL senior
commander and Shura Council member based in Raqqah, Syria, Cook said, and he
was identified as a military commander in a public video distributed by ISIL.
At the time of the strike, Batirashvili had been sent to Shaddadi to bolster
ISIL fighters following a series of strategic defeats by local forces the
United States is supporting, cutting off ISIL operations near the Syria-Iraq
border, he added.
The Defense Department
is still assessing the results of the operation, the press secretary said.
Battle-Tested Leader
“Batirashvili is a battle-tested leader with
experience who had led ISIL fighters in numerous engagements in Iraq and
Syria,” Cook said. “His potential removal from the battlefield would negatively
impact ISIL's ability to recruit foreign fighters - especially those from
Chechnya and the Caucusus regions -- and degrade ISIL's ability to coordinate
attacks and defense of its strongholds like Raqqah, Syria, and Mosul, Iraq.”
The
U.S. Treasury Department designated Batirashvili as a Specially Designated
Global Terrorist pursuant to Executive Order 13224 for action for or on behalf of
ISIL, Cook said.