Original Russian version here.
JP: Assalamu aleikum! Many thanks for giving an interview.
Ali Shishani: Salam! And thank you too.
JP: Please tell me a little bit about yourself. Why did you decide to participate in the war in Syria? Which jamaat were you with initially, before you joined Malhama Tactical?
Ali Shishani: I was born and raised in Chechnya. During both of the wars in Chechnya, I was a child, and I don’t remember a great deal from those times, although there are moments that I do recall clearly. For example, when we hid in the cellars from the Russian terrorists, who would enter the homes of civilians, they took people and killed them for no reason at all. I remember how we sat in silence, we were frightened to make a sound, but thanks to Allah they did not find us and they left. I also remember the air strikes that haunted us wherever we moved.
However, the crimes of the current government in Chechnya against our people I remember very well indeed. These crimes were incessant and necessitated some sort of action, but in recent times this has been practically impossible. And what came to mind were just mindless, desperate, solitary attacks that don’t bring any benefit, pretty much the same as the attacks on police [posts] that were conducted in the past few years in Grozny. But after a bit of thought, it became clear that this would not bring any sort of benefit, actually rather it would bring a lot of harm. [I had] to endure.
Then in 2012-2013, news from Syria was widely disseminated. The situation in Syria was extremely clear, and reminiscent of the situation in Chechnya during the war. This really caught my interest, all the more so because at that time in Syria there were Chechens who were taking part in the fight against Assad. I had two choices: to endure and wait for a suitable moment to take action in my homeland, or go to Syria to help the Muslims against the bloody regime of Bashar al-Assad. I consulted with brothers, and I decided to go to Syria. In 2013, I traveled here and the first jamaat that I was with was Sayfullakh Shishani’s jamaat. A year after the death of Sayfullakh, in 2015, I joined Ajnad al-Kavkaz and later I went to Malhama Tactical.
JP: Please tell me more about your current jamaat, Malhama Tactical. Is your jamaat part of a larger group? What is your relationship with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)?
Ali Shishani: Malhama Tactical is an organization whose main operational goal is to train rebels in Syria in modern warfare tactics. It is comprised of active military instructors and their aides, who will soon also become qualified instructors. Malhama Tactical was founded in 2016 by Abu Rofik (alias Abu Salman), who also undertook successful instructor activity here since 2014. Since the organization was founded, around 5,000 people have gone through our training, and that number continues to grow, thanks to Allah.
Our team also takes part in military actions, where our goal is to undertake such activities that are, in our opinion, on the fronts that are most in need. For example, in the recent battles in the north of Hama governorate, and in the south of Idlib governorate, our team was active in two fields— in artillery reconnaissance and air defense. Thanks to Allah, in both fields there were good results, especially in the latter, when our team downed one of Assad’s Su-22 fighter aircraft.
The MT team also made a significant contribution during the wide scale operation to lift the siege in Aleppo in 2016. MT developed a plan for one stage of the operation, and prepared shock assault teams, which successfully carried out that plan.
Over the years, MT has also had a number of high-profile special ops against important military facilities belonging to the Assad regime.
Apart from this, MT made a significant contribution to repelling the kharijites of Islamic State in the northeast of Hama governorate in 2017, successfully carrying out a counterattack against them, inflicting heavy damage on them and recapturing territories from them. This was the battle when IS and the Assad regime, with Russian air support, attacked the territories of the mujahideen in Greater Idlib.
Malhama Tactical is an independent organization but we work closely with HTS.
JP: Did I understand correctly that you train mujahideen from HTS, or from other jamaats too? Do you work independently or with instructors from other jamaats?
Ali Shishani: Since we work with HTS, we mostly train their mujahideen, but we have more than once carried out training for mujahideen from other jamaats, and in the future we don’t plan to limit ourselves to that, our doors are open to all active forces.
Our instructors work independently, but it has happened that sometimes we exchange experience with other instructors, and also in this area we don’t limit ourselves, we are always glad to exchange experience with other instructors.
JP: What training courses do you run?
Ali Shishani: We have rifle shooting, weapons firing, physical training, tactical shooting, and special tactical training courses, and special courses in RPG and Kalashnikov (PKM). The number of courses is increasing over time. We are already working on programs in several new disciplines and in the near future we plan to start training in them.
JP: What are the nationalities of those who undergo training? Are they local Syrians or from Russia and other post-Soviet countries? Are they mostly new recruits or are there also those with experience?
Ali Shishani: We train mujahideen of various nationalities, those from Russia and the former Soviet Union, Asian countries, but mostly of course there are local Syrians. The main focus is on local [Syrians] since they play the main role in major military actions. We train new recruits and also experienced fighters.
JP: What do you think about the current situation in Idlib? What is the morale of the mujahideen in general, and Russian-speaking fighters in particular?
Ali Shishani: Idlib in my opinion has become more stable now. The events of the last months has led the majority of mujahideen organizations to reach greater agreement and cooperation among themselves. Morale among the mujahideen in the main is high. We are getting requests from all over to carry out various training courses and right now we are busy in several locations. Brothers who have a great desire to gain new knowledge are undertaking training with a great deal of perseverance, which shows their high level of morale. There has not been a lot of opportunity recently to talk to Russian speakers but those with whom I speak regularly also have no issues with morale.