Ajnad al-Kavkaz, the Chechen-led militant group based in Latakia province, has posted some images and details about its military amir, Khamza Shishani, who like the group’s amir Abdul Hakim Shishani is a Chechen who fought in Chechnya before he came to Syria.

Khamza’s story is similar to that of Abdul Hakim in that he left the North Caucasus after being wounded there and going abroad (i.e. to Turkey) for treatment; he then moved to Syria after being unable to return to the North Caucasus, because he is on the FSB’s wanted list.

Ajnad say that Khamza began to wage jihad in 2005 and was seriously wounded. It is likely that — as with several other North Caucasian militants who ended up in Turkey after being wounded fighting at home — he stayed there for some time and found an opportunity to continue fighting in the Syrian conflict — a sort of “displaced conflict” if you like (a concept I have explored in previous posts).

Khamza fought in the Eastern Front, according to Ajnad, who say that Abdul Hakim was the Amir of the Central Front (Амир Центрального Фронта).

As I have noted in my profile of Ajnad that I wrote for Janes: Ajnad is a predominantly Chechen jamaat based in the forested areas of northern Latakia province. North Caucasian militants have joked that this is the “Kavkaz of Syria” because it is similar in terrain to areas of the North Caucasus where they have been used to fighting. So, unable to return home to fight, they have been able to replicate some of the conditions — men, terrain, jamaat structure, etc — of their previous “jihad” in the North Caucasus. In some ways, the Syrian conflict has allowed these groups to develop beyond what they may have achieved in the North Caucasus, not just because (until recently!) they have not come under attack from Russia (Russia has said that it is targeting Ajnad in Latakia, though only a couple of militants have been killed and in fact the group has been fighting in Idlib) but also because Ajnad has been able to establish itself as a separate jamaat outside of the Caucasus Emirate’s politics.

The Caucasus Emirate in Syria, incidentally, have NOT based themselves in Latakia with some influential militants within the jamaat saying that they dislike that terrain and preferring the city!