French ISIS Operative Charaffe Al-Mouadan, Killed By Coalition, Had Been Actively Recruiting Online Since 2013

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December 29, 2015

The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

On December 30, 2015, an Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman confirmed the death of Islamic State (ISIS) operative Charaffe Al-Mouadan, aka Aba Souleyman. He had been identified as an ISIS operative by the MEMRI JTTM and had been quoted and mentioned in MEMRI JTTM reports beginning in November 2013, and individually profiled in a February 2014 report on French-speaking foreign fighters. His prolific online activities had been followed by MEMRI JTTM researchers since September 2013, when he first arrived in Syria.

According to the Pentagon, Al-Mouadan had been in direct contact with ISIS operative Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was behind the November 13 Paris attacks, and had also been involved in planning terror attacks in the West. He was a known associate of another of the Paris attackers, Samy Amimour, who was one of the three who killed 90 people at the Bataclan theatre and who died there. A photo from a Facebook account of Foued Mohamed-Aggad, another of the Bataclan theater attackers, suggests that Mouadan was in direct contact with him as well. 


Charaffe Al-Mouadan, a.k.a Aba/Abou Souleyman, in a selfie in Raqqa, Syria in 2014.

Al-Mouadan who was from a Paris suburb, announced on social media his arrival, with his wife, in Syria in September 2013. From then on, he was active on Facebook and Twitter until a few weeks prior to his death. One of the main figures of the French-speaking jihadi community online, he actively participated in recruiting new operatives, calling publicly for Muslims to immigrate and join the jihad with ISIS, and threatening the West. According to information he shared on social media, he lived in Manbij, in Syria.


Facebook, December 21, 2013.


Facebook profile picture, 2013.

The following are MEMRI JTTM reports in which Charaffe Al-Mouadan is mentioned:

Recruitment

French-Speaking Jihad Fighters In Syria: "France, Soon It Will Be Your Turn", November 7, 2013.

Profile

An In-Depth Look At One Of The Facebook/Twitter Networks Of French-Speaking Jihadis Fighting In Syria: Glorifying Jihad In Syria, Condemning "Heretical" France, February 17, 2014.

Threats

On Facebook, French ISIS Supporters And Fighters Urge Attacks In France And Europe, October 13, 2014.

Advising and conversing with other fighters

In-Depth Profile Of Demoralized Elite ISIS Fighter From Belgium, July 8, 2015.

Possible link to Bataclan attacker Foued Mohamed-Aggad

Exclusive Profile Of Foued Mohamed-Aggad, Paris Bataclan Attacker, December 10, 2015.

 

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