Former Rapper and Current ISIS Recruiter Deso Dogg Survives Airstrike

Deso Dogg, an ex-rapper and current ISIS recruiter, had reportedly been killed in a U.S. airstrike on Oct. 16 in Syria, but now, as the New York Times reports, the Pentagon has announced on Wednesday (Aug. 3) that the German-born Denis Cuspert had survived the attack near the town of Raqqa.

“At the time, our assessment was the strike was successful. It now appears that assessment was incorrect and Denis Cuspert survived the airstrike,” Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said in an emailed statement. Major Rankine-Galloway likewise said that the United States would continue to target terrorists like Cuspert who “plot, conduct or inspire attacks against the West and our allies.”

German officials had never confirmed Cuspert's death, and the most recent statement out of Washington comes after he was profiled for a magazine piece last month. That article noted that though the Pentagon had announced Cuspert's death, online reports continued to claim that he was alive, with a Berlin branch of German's domestic intelligence agency expressing doubts at the report of his death as recently as June.

As the Timmes reports, Cuspert had toured with DMX as Deso Dogg in 2006 but left rap in 2010. In February of 2015, the State Department had identified him as a global terrorist. Elissa Smith, a Defense Department spokeswoman, said in an October statement, “Cuspert was a foreign terrorist fighter and operative for ISIL who used social media to take advantage of disaffected youth and potential Western recruits.”

For additional details visit The New York Times.

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