The Georgian roots of Isis commander Omar al-ShishaniTeimuraz Batirashvili: "Now he says he left because of his faith, but I know he did it because we were poor" Omar al-Shishani may now be one of the most feared jihadists in the Middle East, as a commander in the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), but his early life was very different. He was born Tarkhan Batirashvili and grew up in Georgia's picturesque Pankisi Gorge.
