The other day Sam Heller (@AbuJamajem) alerted me to some interesting tweets from March 2014 by Iyad al-Sha'ar (aka Abu al-Hassan) [reproduced below]. al-Sha'ar is a high level commander in Ahrar al-Sham and veteran of the Afghan jihad originally from Jisr al-Shughour, Syria. The tweets ostensibly were to eulogize his brother, Yasar, who died in the conflict in the North Caucasus, wishing he was alive to fight alongside him in Syria. However, al-Sha'ar made one very unique claim - that Yasar was killed during the Dubrovka Theatre operation in 2002. After he tweeted the photos of his brother, another user replied with a photo alleging to be Yasar al-Sha'ar along with Movsar Barayev, the commander of the theatre operation and a still from a video reportedly showing Yasar during the operation [if anyone knows the source for this video, please send it to me].
In late October 2002, Barayev led a group of approximately 50 fighters from the North Caucasus in an mass hostage taking operation during a performance of Nord-Ost at the Dubrovka Theatre in Moscow. Holding more than 850 people, Barayev demanded a full Russian withdrawal from Chechnya. After three days, Russian special forces eventually raided the theatre, famously using an incapacitating agent that killed over 130 of the hostages. Barayev and all of his fighters were also killed.
I have studied the conflict in the North Caucasus for a long time and never heard of foreigners being involved in Nord-Ost [see update below]. Looking back, I am unable to find any mention in contemporary media accounts or later historical accounts of foreigners being involved in late October 2002 attack. If al-Sha'ar was actually killed in the Dubrovka Theatre, why did the Russian media never report this, especially when claims of foreign involvement and funding were consistently exaggerated in later years? Its possible al-Sha'ar was simply killed fighting in the mountains and forests of Chechnya and who ever contacted Iyad al-Sha'ar about his brother's death, misinformed him. Whatever the case my be, more cross language research like could definitely provide some interesting insights into lesser known aspects of the jihadist conflicts of the last few decades.
UPDATE (31 AUGUST 2015): The excellent scholar of the North Caucasus, Mark Youngman (@ExtremistRussia), pointed out to me that there was some mention of a Yasir during some of the reporting from the early 2000s. Some of the details about Yasir line up with with Yasar al-Sha'ar. A 2002 News.ru report stated, "The ideologue of the terrorists was a person with the nickname 'Yasir,' and the name Idris Alkhazurov in his passport. According to certain sources, he studied in Saudi Arabia [NCC - Iyad al-Sha'ar, and likely Yasar, grew up in Tabbouk, Saudi Arabia], conducted military training in Lebanon [NCC - though there is no indication Yasir ever spent time in Lebanon] and Afghanistan, and infiltrated Chechnya via the Pankisi Gorge. According to Vladimir Kol'chuk [one of the theatre hostages], Yasir was very likely not Chechen. He knew Turkish and Arabic, but conversed with the militants [in the theatre] in Russia. He had an uncharacteristic accent for a Chechen."
Two years later, Novaya Gazeta published a report based on documents of the investigation into the theatre operation. According to the documents, police had not determined the identities of seven of the hostage takers. The available information for one of the hostage takers lines up even further with Yasar al-Sha'ar: "Individual unidentified by investigation - mercenary, Arab, calling himself, "Yasir," using the passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation by the name Alkhazurov, Idris Makhmudovich, birthdate 1974. In 2000, along with the other Arabs - Abu Umar (killed in 2001), Abu Dzafar, and Abu Kuteiba - they organized explosions at military units where they drove in on heavy load trucks packed with explosives."
At least one foreigner was involved in Nord-Ost and based on these reports, it is seemingly more likely that it was Yasar al-Sha'ar - using a fake or stolen Russian passport during the course of the operation to obscure his identity.
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In late October 2002, Barayev led a group of approximately 50 fighters from the North Caucasus in an mass hostage taking operation during a performance of Nord-Ost at the Dubrovka Theatre in Moscow. Holding more than 850 people, Barayev demanded a full Russian withdrawal from Chechnya. After three days, Russian special forces eventually raided the theatre, famously using an incapacitating agent that killed over 130 of the hostages. Barayev and all of his fighters were also killed.
I have studied the conflict in the North Caucasus for a long time and never heard of foreigners being involved in Nord-Ost [see update below]. Looking back, I am unable to find any mention in contemporary media accounts or later historical accounts of foreigners being involved in late October 2002 attack. If al-Sha'ar was actually killed in the Dubrovka Theatre, why did the Russian media never report this, especially when claims of foreign involvement and funding were consistently exaggerated in later years? Its possible al-Sha'ar was simply killed fighting in the mountains and forests of Chechnya and who ever contacted Iyad al-Sha'ar about his brother's death, misinformed him. Whatever the case my be, more cross language research like could definitely provide some interesting insights into lesser known aspects of the jihadist conflicts of the last few decades.
UPDATE (31 AUGUST 2015): The excellent scholar of the North Caucasus, Mark Youngman (@ExtremistRussia), pointed out to me that there was some mention of a Yasir during some of the reporting from the early 2000s. Some of the details about Yasir line up with with Yasar al-Sha'ar. A 2002 News.ru report stated, "The ideologue of the terrorists was a person with the nickname 'Yasir,' and the name Idris Alkhazurov in his passport. According to certain sources, he studied in Saudi Arabia [NCC - Iyad al-Sha'ar, and likely Yasar, grew up in Tabbouk, Saudi Arabia], conducted military training in Lebanon [NCC - though there is no indication Yasir ever spent time in Lebanon] and Afghanistan, and infiltrated Chechnya via the Pankisi Gorge. According to Vladimir Kol'chuk [one of the theatre hostages], Yasir was very likely not Chechen. He knew Turkish and Arabic, but conversed with the militants [in the theatre] in Russia. He had an uncharacteristic accent for a Chechen."
Two years later, Novaya Gazeta published a report based on documents of the investigation into the theatre operation. According to the documents, police had not determined the identities of seven of the hostage takers. The available information for one of the hostage takers lines up even further with Yasar al-Sha'ar: "Individual unidentified by investigation - mercenary, Arab, calling himself, "Yasir," using the passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation by the name Alkhazurov, Idris Makhmudovich, birthdate 1974. In 2000, along with the other Arabs - Abu Umar (killed in 2001), Abu Dzafar, and Abu Kuteiba - they organized explosions at military units where they drove in on heavy load trucks packed with explosives."
At least one foreigner was involved in Nord-Ost and based on these reports, it is seemingly more likely that it was Yasar al-Sha'ar - using a fake or stolen Russian passport during the course of the operation to obscure his identity.
