Suspected ISIS Operative Identified in Europe

The US Government revealed the identity of an ISIS operative yesterday who may have overseen the terrorist attacks in Paris last year, and a series of suicide bombings in Brussels in an international airport and metro this year.Using the pseudonym Abu Souleymane al-Faransi, information was released that identified the man as 27-year-old Abdelilah Himich. He is originally from Morocco. The State Department gave this statement in regards to Himich:

"Abdelilah Himich, also known as Abu Sulayman al-Faransi, is a senior foreign terrorist fighter and external operations figure for the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and SDGT group, ISIL. Himich created the Tariq Ibn Ziyad Battalion in 2015, a European foreign terrorist fighter cell that has provided operatives for ISIL attacks in Iraq, Syria, and abroad; at one time the battalion numbered as many as 300 members. Himich was also reportedly involved in the planning of ISIL’s November 2015 Paris attacks and March 2016 Brussels attacks."

The Paris attacks on November 13, 2015, were led by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian IS member who orchestrated the attacks on the ground. However, with further investigation, it was concluded that Abaaoud and his team were being given direction from someone else; taking orders and following them from senior leaders inside the organization. While Abaaoud was killed in a police shootout in the day after the attacks, a larger investigation was started in search of those leaders. Following the attacks in Belgium, a laptop that was recovered revealed an information trail that ended at Himich. It was revealed that he had actually lived in France in the town of Lunel, and that after he joined the French Foreign Legion, he was deployed to Afghanistan.Jean-Charles Brisard, the leader of the Center for Analysis of Terrorism in Paris, told the New York Times, “He was promoted very quickly once he reached Syria and became the commander of a brigade of foreign fighters, and this is surely as a result of his background and his combat experience.” He also described Himich as the "conceiver" of the attacks in ParisBrisard also mentioned that he had participated in at least two executions, in a video where he crucified them.