US designates French recruiter Omar Diaby 'global terrorist'

September 16, 2016 19:59

Just In: US designates French recruiter Omar Diaby 'global terrorist'.

Diaby, who also goes by the name Omar Omsen, is the self-proclaimed emir of a katiba -- or fighting group -- of French jihadists in Syria, many of them hailing from the southeastern French city of Nice. He was presumed dead when, in May this year, he reportedly made contact with France 2 journalist Romain Boutilly.

Speaking on Skype, Diaby told the reporter: "The emir Omar Omsen is not dead. His death was announced for a very precise reason."

After a stint in a Nice penitentiary, Diaby rose to prominence in 2012 by producing a series of lengthy propaganda videos under the title '19HH', a reference to the World Trade Centre and the 19 terrorists who took part in its destruction on September 11, 2001.

The videos claimed to reveal "the truth" about Islam, Western imperialism and the death of Osama bin Laden. They got tens of thousands of views on YouTube, and have been credited with inspiring the first wave of jihadist fighters to leave France -- before the IS group and its online propaganda machine even existed.

Diaby left for Syria in the summer of 2013, setting up a unit of French fighters linked to the al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda's Syrian branch, which would later become the IS group's main jihadist rival.

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