Abu Umar al-Almani

Yamin Abou-Zand[2] (1986 – 25 March 2017), better known by his nom de guerre Abu Umar al-Almani (Arabic: أبو عمر الألماني‎; Abū ʿUmar al-Almānī), was a prominent German commander of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. He gained notoriety by appearing in the first German ISIL propaganda video in 2015, and went on to fight for the militant organization until 2017, when he was killed in action against the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Not to be confused with "Asif N.", a German ISIL fighter and suicide bomber who also adopted the nom de guerre "Abu Umar al-Almani".[1]

Abu Umar al-Almani
Birth nameYamin Abou-Zand[2]
Born1986[3]
Stuttgart, Germany[3]
DiedMarch 25, 2017(2017-03-25) (aged 30–31)[4]
Near Tabqa Dam, Syria[4]
Allegiance Islamic State
Service/branchMilitary of ISIL
Years of service2015–2017
RankEmir in the Al-Thawrah District[4]
Battles/warsWar on Terror: Military intervention against ISIL
  • American-led intervention in Syria

Syrian Civil War

Biography

Born in 1986 in Stuttgart into a partially German Muslim family,[3][6] Yamin Abou-Zand grew up in Baden-Württemberg until moving with his parents to Königswinter in 2000. There, he married a German Muslim and rented his own apartment. The couple had no children and lived secluded, though neighbors said that they were generally nice people.[7] Yamin also began working at the Deutsche Telekom in the department for Recruiting and Talent-Acquisition,[8] where he was initially considered to be a "promising, committed and very courteous employee".[lower-alpha 1] In late-2013, his co-workers noticed that he became increasingly extremist in his religious views. Eventually, he began to openly express sympathy for ISIL, whereupon the Telekom reported him to the German security agencies. Yamin eventually quit his job in late-2014.[3] In early-2015, he and his wife disappeared without informing their families, who reported them missing to local authorities. The two appear to have travelled to Turkey, and from there to Syria in order to join ISIL.[7] Soon after, Yamin adopted his nom de guerre "Abu Umar al-Almani" and joined Millatu Ibrahim,[3] a German Salafist organization led by the Austrian Mohamed Mahmoud that had become a unit of ISIL's military.[5]

He gained prominence in August 2015 by appearing in the first ISIL propaganda video in German together with Mohamed Mahmoud.[3] In the video, shot in Palmyra, the two tried to encourage German Muslims to travel to Syria and join ISIL.[6][9] Abu Umar claimed that "the jihad is like vacation for us. We are here at one of the most beautiful places in Syria."[lower-alpha 2] In the case German jihadists could not travel to Syria, he ordered them instead to commit terrorist attacks in Germany and Austria,[9] saying that they should "attack the kuffar, in their own homes! Kill them where you find them!"[lower-alpha 3] The two ISIL fighters justified this as revenge for the German support of the anti-ISIL coalition, and the Bundeswehr mission in Afghanistan.[9] Abu Umar then proceeded to execute a captured Syrian Army soldier.[3] Since his appearance in the propaganda video, Abu Umar was wanted by the German security services for murder and war crimes.[3] German Salafists, including those with sympathies for ISIL and al-Qaeda, widely condemned the execution and the video, with prominent Islamist Bernhard Falk (de) calling Abu Umar a psychopath.[8]

In course of the following year, Abu Umar became an emir and one of the leading ISIL commanders in the Al-Thawrah District, where he helped to organize the defenses against the SDF-led Raqqa offensive.[4] On 25 March 2017, he was killed with three of his bodyguards by YPJ fighters[10] during clashes near Tabqa Dam.[4]

Notes
  1. Translated from German; in the original this reads: "vielversprechender, engagierter und sehr höflicher Mitarbeiter".[3]
  2. Translated from German; in the original this reads: "Der Dschihad ist tatsächlich Urlaub für uns. Wir sind hier an einem der schönsten Orte Syriens."[6]
  3. Translated from German; in the original this reads: "Greift die Kuffar an, in ihren eigenen Häusern! Tötet sie dort, wo ihr sie findet!"[3]
gollark: Uncool.
gollark: Hmm, no, I have *573* tabs now, not 541.
gollark: Don't you ever open 541 tabs?
gollark: Besides, I run Discord in the browser to minimize their data gathering, they can "only" read all my messages and associated metadata.
gollark: Does it have this *amazing* and *wonderful* community on it? No.

References
  1. "Hamburger sprengt sich in Syrien für den IS in die Luft" (in German). Hamburger Abendblatt. 4 June 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  2. "Ex-Terrorist packt aus – Das geheime IS-Terror-Netzwerk in Deutschland". Berliner Kurier (in German). Berliner Verlag GmbH. 5 August 2016. Archived from the original on 23 August 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  3. Florian Flade (13 August 2015). "Behörden identifizieren deutschen IS-Mörder [Authorities identify German IS murderer]" (in German). Die Welt. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  4. "Abu Omar al-Almany was killed". Hawar News Agency. 26 March 2017. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  5. Rainer Burger (29 November 2015). "Islamismus in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Die Spur von „Millatu Ibrahim" [Islamism in Nordrhein-Westfalen. The track of Millatu Ibrahim]" (in German). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  6. "IS veröffentlicht Propaganda-Video auf Deutsch [IS releases a propaganda video in German]" (in German). Spiegel Online. 5 August 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  7. Ines Bodammer (15 August 2015). "Königswinter unter Schock. So lebte IS-Henker Yamin A.-Z. im Rhein-Idyll [Königswinter under shock. IS executioner Yamin A.-Z. lived in this way in the Rhine idyll]" (in German). Express.de. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  8. "Yamin Abou-Zand und der große Streit" [Yamin Abou-Zand and the great dispute]. Erasmus Monitor (de) (in German). 14 August 2015. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016.
  9. Günther et al. (2016), p. 171.
  10. Marc Drewello (28 March 2017). "YPJ-Kämpferinnen sollen deutschen IS-Terroristen getötet haben" [YPJ fighters have reportedly killed German IS terrorist]. Stern (in German). Retrieved 1 October 2018.

Bibliography
  • Günther, Christoph; Ourghi, Mariella; Schröter, Susanne; Wiedl, Nina (2016). "Dschihadistische Rechtfertigungsnarrative und ihre Angriffsflächen". In Janusz Biene; Christopher Daase; Julian Junk; Harald Müller (eds.). Salafismus und Dschihadismus in Deutschland: Ursachen, Dynamiken, Handlungsempfehlungen [Salafism and Jihadism in Germany: Reasons, dynamics, recommendations for action] (in German). Frankfurt, New York City: Campus Verlag. pp. 159–198. ISBN 978-3-593-50637-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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