ELIMINATED
- Full name: Fabien Clain
- Pseudonym: Abu Anas al-Firansi, Abu Adam al-Firansi, “Panda”, “Omar”
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: Syria, fmr France, fmr Egypt, fmr Turkey, fmr Belgium, fmr Netherlands
- Affiliation: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh], Artigat and Toulouse Network [FAT]
Fabien Clain (°1978) was a Reunionese Islamist who gained notoriety as one France’s most influential jihadis during the mid-2010s. He grew up in a Roman-Catholic immigrant family in the Norman town of Alençon, but also spent a few years in Reunion during his adolescence in the early 1990s.1 After returning to Normandy, Clain converted to Islam somewhere between 1996 and 1998 under the influence of Tunisian acquaintance Mohammed Amri.2 Within months, he convinced his siblings to become Muslims too and also converted his future wife Mylène Foucre.3
In 1998, Clain, his brother and their partners moved to Toulouse which they thought would be more tolerant of their austere way of life.4 They settled in the heavily immigrant Mirail suburb but even there, the Clains quickly earned a reputation for their radicalism.5 Fabien Clain became active in local mosques and turned into a mentor for young, dissatisfied Muslims.6 He quickly attracted about twenty associates, including members of the Essid and Merah families. Together with his brother, Clain turned to writing and singing nasheeds.7 They also attended local markets selling audio tapes and books which they acquired from Islamist extremists based in Belgium.8 Around the same time, Clain developed a close bond to Olivier Corel, a Syrian-born Islamist who ran a Muslim fundamentalist commune in the village of Artigat.9 Corel would become the spiritual guide of Clain and his associates.10 This alliance formed the basis of the nascent Artigat and Toulouse Network [FAT; Filière d’Artigat et Toulouse].
In the beginning of 2003, Clain, his brother and their wives moved to Brussels where they quickly began to associate with North African Islamists who had settled in the Belgian capital city.11 They reportedly got in contact with Moroccan extremist cleric Abdelkrim Aznagui.12 Clain also got in touch with future jihadi companion Farouk Ben Abbès during this time.13 He reportedly organized endurance practice and hikes in the Belgian Ardennes during his stay in the country.14 In October 2004, Clain returned to France and decided to go live at Corel’s Artigat commune.
Like many members of the FAT, Clain went to Egypt to attend Salafi seminaries in the suburbs of Cairo in the mid-2000s.15 He was joined by his wife, his brother and FAT associates.16 In the fall of 2007, Clain and Ben Abbes went to Turkey where they ostensibly learned Arabic at a religious school.
Clain had also taken an interest in the cause of the jihadis fighting against America and its allies in Iraq in the same period. He reportedly convinced several of his associates to join Iraqi al-Qa’ida-linked forces and to have provided logistical support to them.17 In December 2006, two of these men were caught by Syrian troops as they were waiting to cross into Iraq.18 French authorities clamped down on the FAT’s activities in Toulouse and arrested more than a dozen of its members during two operations in 2007.19 Several key elements were charged but most those apprehended were released shortly afterwards. Clain himself was arrested along with his wife and brother during a police operation in Toulouse on Feb. 20, 2008.20 In June 2009, Clain was sentenced to five years in prison by a court for sending jihadis from France to go fight in Iraq.21
Clain was released from prison in August 2012 and returned to Alençon.22 He became an Islamic faith healer, tried to set up a business selling dietary products and taught Arabic at a local mosque.23 None of these activities brought in money and Clain had to live of state welfare benefits.24 He was ostracized by the local Muslim community after a television documentary on his jihadi connections had aired in March 2013.25 Clain lowered his profile and little is known about his activities in the following years. He appeared regularly in Islamist extremist circles in the Seine-Saint-Denis department.26 By early 2015, Clain appears to have decided to go to Syria. He was spotted buying high-end audio equipment in Toulouse.27
In March 2015, Clain took his family to Syria by car.28 His ailing mother died on the way there.29 In Syria, he linked up with his brother Jean-Michel in Raqqa. From Syria, Clain propagated for the DaIISh and narrated bulletins and videos.30 He served as the organization’s official spokesperson as it claimed responsibility for the devastating November 2015 attacks in Paris.31
Clain’s actions in Syria were not limited to propaganda. He also recruited fighters for the DaIISh and instigated attacks by its supporters in France.32 Clain provided guidance and logistical support to Sidi Ghlam. The Algerian militant was responsible for the April 2015 murder of a fitness instructor and planned to attack a church in the Villejuif suburb of Paris.33
Clain was eliminated in an American air strike on one of the last positions held by the DaIISh in the Syrian town of Baghouz on Feb. 20, 2019.34 His brother died in shelling a few days later. DaIISh top leader Ibrahim al-Badri [aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi] praised the Clain brothers for their efforts in the organization’s media operations in an audio recording published in April 2019.35
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