VIDEO. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, France Télévisions was able to meet French jihadists in the country

Nicolas Bertrand, special envoy of France Télévisions in Syria, was able to speak with Omar Diaby, alias “Omar Omsen”, a jihadist from Nice, at the head of a brigade made up of young French people.

“The meeting lasted about fifteen minutes”says Nicolas Bertrand, France Télévisions’ special correspondent in Syria, Saturday December 14. The journalist and his team “was able to enter the French jihadist camp itself” in the Idlib region in northwest Syria. They were welcomed by Omar Omsen “in person”. Real name Omar Diaby, this Franco-Senegalese delinquent from Nice, who left to wage jihad in Syria in 2013, is now at the head of a brigade made up of French Islamist fighters.

Omar Omsen assures that his brigade found itself “on the forehead”, “on the front line”in the fighting which led to the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8. The chief jihadist claims that the videos showing his fighters in action, which have circulated on social networks, “were filmed by his son”reports Nicolas Bertrand. During his visit to the jihadist camp, the France Télévisions journalist saw “around fifteen fighters”, “fully equipped” et “armed”on the “around thirty”which would constitute the fighting unit. “They live there with their wives and children”underlines the special correspondent.

The future of these French jihadists present in Syria concerns the French authorities, after the fall of the regime and the takeover of the country by rebel groups, led by the radical Islamists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). This group is in conflict with Omar Omsen’s brigade, the prosecutor recently recalled national anti-terrorist Olivier Christen at Figaro.

However, the French jihadist maintains that“in no case, neither he nor his men today, wish to return to France”specifies Nicolas Bertrand. “We are so good here”said the jihadist leader, according to comments reported by the special envoy. “He claims that none of his men would prepare an attack on French soil”adds Nicolas Bertrand.

The visit to the jihadist camp as well as the meeting with its leader could not be filmed. Omar Omsen explained that he had concluded a financial transaction with other media in exchange for his interview, a condition that France Télévisions did not accept.

A former delinquent who became a preacher, notably via the internet, Omar Diaby worked in a halal snack bar in Nice in 2012, before joining Syria in 2013. Suspected of having convinced many young people to join the region, he took the head of a jihadist brigade made up of French people, most of them from the South-East like him. Author of propaganda videos, he proclaimed himself imam. In September 2016, the United States described it as “international terrorist”.

Given for dead, he reappeared in a shooting broadcast by “Complément d’investigation” on France 2 in 2016. Although he is not directly suspected of having organized attacks, Omar Omsen approved the attack on the newspaper satirical Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 in Paris. “Those who insulted the prophet were executed. We had to do what the Kouachi brothers did. I would have liked to be chosen to do that”he declared to France 2.

Between August 2020 and February 2022, Omar Omsen was detained by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group. He reached the Idleb region, one of the last pockets beyond the control of the Syrian regime. He is still the subject of an arrest warrant from French justice.