DECEASED
- Full name: Salih Yahya Gazali Yilmaz
- Pseudonym: Israfil Yilmaz, “Knuffeljihadi”, “Chechclear”
- Alternatives: N/a
- Location: Syria, fmr Turkey, fmr Netherlands
- Affiliation: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh], fmr Support Front for the People of the Levant [JaNS], Soldiers of al-Aqsa [JaA], fmr Army of the Emigrants and Partisans [JMA]
Salih Yilmaz (°1987) was a Brunei-born Turkish jihadi who grew up in the Netherlands.1 He performed military service in the Turkish army before taking part in training programs of the Dutch army in 2009 and 2010.2 Yilmaz turned to religion in the early 2010s and became a supporter of the Syrian jihadi cause.
In 2012, Yilmaz traveled to Syria and joined the Army of Emigrants and Partisans [JMA; Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar] led by Tarkhan Batirashvili (aka Abu Omar al-Shishani). He later reportedly moved between the Support Front for the People of the Levant [JaNS; Jabhat al-Nusra li-Ahli ash-Sham] and the Soldiers of al-Aqsa [JaA; Jund al-Aqsa] before joining the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [DaIISh; Dawlat al-Islamiya fi-Iraq wal ash-Sham] in the summer of 2014.3 Yilmaz was allegedly injured in a Kurdish sniper attack in 2013.4
Yilmaz served as a military trainer for the jihadi groups he associated with.5 Yilmaz was very active on social media and became one of the best-known Turkish militants in Syria. He regularly posted pictures with cats and a baby, making him popular among female supporters of the jihadi cause.6 He also used the internet to give interviews to western journalists.7 Although Yilmaz presented himself as a “friendly face” of the jihadi forces, he nevertheless publicly claimed to have been present at a beheading, joked about hurling gay men from high-rise buildings and defended the November 2015 DaIISh attacks in Paris.8 Apart from helping the DaIISh with training and public relations, Yilmaz was also said to have served in one of its special operations units.9
In September 2016, Yilmaz was reported to have been killed in an air strike in the city of Raqqa.10 His death was also announced in 2017.11 It was later revealed that Yilmaz had been executed by the DaIISh after wanting to leave the organization in April 2018.12
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