“There were so many blasts we didn’t sleep,” said Abu Leyl, who gave a nom de guerre because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Now he's using his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, rather than his nom de guerre as a sign of his sudden rise to a much greater national role.

Abdulsaid, who used the nom de guerre Khatan, was one of several Abu Sayyaf militants who aligned themselves with the Islamic State group.

Another far-right influencer, Rogan O’Handley, who utilizes the nom de guerre DC Draino on the platform X, added fuel to the fire for his more than 1 million followers the next morning.

Afterward, said a militant who identified himself only as Ahmad, the Israeli intelligence officer responsible for the area, who goes by the nom de guerre Captain Iyad, called fighters’ relatives.