Shishani was born Ruslan Machalikashvili and took up the
nom de guerre Sayfullakh Shishani. He lived in Turkey, taking part in demonstrations in
Istanbul and was part of the
Chechen diaspora there. He was fluent in
Turkish. Unlike other Chechen fighters, he had no previous combat experience before arriving in Syria in 2012. and
Afghanistan. Shishani met
Abu Omar al-Shishani sometime after arriving in Syria, where they were initially close and worked together in
Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (JMWA). reportedly over whether the group should remain independent or pledge allegiance to ISIS, with Shishani favoring independence. He initially formed a group named "Mujahideen Kavkaz fi Sham" in September, though the following month, he announced that it would be known as Jaish Khilafah al-Islamiyya. It was briefly independent until the group pledged allegiance to the
Al-Nusra Front in December 2013. His fighters were trained by
Muslim Shishani. == Death ==