Nice Attack Spotlights French Jihadist Recruiter
| Publisher | Jamestown Foundation |
| Author | Alexander Sehmer |
| Publication Date | 22 July 2016 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 15 |
| Cite as | Jamestown Foundation, Nice Attack Spotlights French Jihadist Recruiter, 22 July 2016, Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 15, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579a1f8b4.html [accessed 2 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Link to original story on Jamestown website
The Bastille Day terror attack in the French city of Nice, which saw 84 people killed when a Tunisian truck driver ploughed through crowds on the Promenade des Anglais, has refocused attention on the Senegal-born French jihadist recruiter Omar Diaby, also known as Omar Omsen.
Born in Senegal, Omsen lived in Nice from the age of five and had several spells in prison there before moving to Syria in 2013. Although his death had been announced on Twitter in August 2015, he recently reemerged, allowing a film crew to film him for a documentary aired on French television in June (France 2, May 30). His death had remained unconfirmed and he claims to have staged the announcement so he could undergo "major surgery" in a neighboring country (Le Figaro, May 30).
No established connection exists between Omsen and Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, the Tunisian truck driver behind the Nice attack, a man who appears to have been a relatively new convert to Islam and who still had images him engaging promiscuous activity saved on his phone (BFM-TV, July 17). But Omsen's influence in Nice is strong. His string of propaganda videos, named "19HH" as a references to the 19 attackers who took part in the 9/11 attacks, have been watched by tens of thousands of people (Le Monde, May 12, 2015). The 19HH website has since been shut down, but the videos continue to circulate.
Omsen and his propaganda videos are at least partly responsible for turning Nice into a hotbed for jihadi recruitment. About 10 percent of all French jihadist recruits abroad are thought to have come from Alpes-Maritimes, the French administrative department of which Nice is the capital. By the end of 2015, French authorities there had at least 236 individuals under surveillance and were tracking five new potential jihadists each week (Reuters, July 15)
Despite the success of Omsen's recruitment videos in enticing French jihadists to venture abroad, he appears to have little connection to domestic terror attacks, such as the Nice attack or the attack on the offices of the satirical Charlie Hebdo newspaper in 2015.
In Syria, Omsen's group is linked to Jabhat al-Nusra; and judging from the France 2 documentary, his sympathies lie more strongly with Syria's al-Qaeda affiliate than with Islamic State. The documentary's portrayal of Omsen and his camp - he describes waking up to coffee and cornflakes in the morning - also possibly bears out earlier assessments that the group engages only infrequently in the fighting in Syria and derives its legitimacy from Omsen's online presence (al-Jazeera, November 30, 2014). Nonetheless, it is this that has made Omsen a security concern for France. As the threat of 'lone wolf' attacks in Europe increases, security services will be monitoring his activities closely.
