A 23-year-old Arab citizen of Israel from the city of Umm el-Fahm was arrested by general security services and Israeli police. The man had been in Syria since last January, where he enlisted in a terrorist group so brutal it was kicked out of Al Qaeda.
The man, named Ahmed Amad Hiri Shurbaji, underwent military training in Syria and took part in battles against Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces. Under investigation he admitted to going to Syria and enlisting in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), one of the extremist Global Jihad-affiliated organizations, where he helped fight forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
The Haifa District Attorney submitted an indictment against Shurbaji on Wednesday to the Haifa Magistrates Courts.
The training Shurbaji took part in included the handling of small arms and heavy machine guns, theoretical courses on additional weapons, such as grenades and the use of RPG (rocket propelled grenade) launchers, as well as physical training.
Shurbaji joined the fighting in at least two battles against Assad's forces, joining Global Jihad terrorists in activities in various parts of Syria, including areas near the border with Iraq.
Internal Security Services (Shabak) notes that the phenomenon of Arab citizens of Israel going to Syria to take part in the fighting poses a grave danger to the security of Israel.
Shabak explained that Syria is rife with forces that espouse Israel's destruction as a goal, in particular the Global Jihad-affiliated terror groups.
Further, the military training of Israeli-Arabs in Syria along with the exposure to extreme jihadist ideology is pointed to as a great risk, in addition to their later ability to be used conducting or training for terror attacks against Israel, or gathering intelligence on Israeli targets.
Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich was just in Umm el-Fahm on Monday, where he strongly denounced the alleged “price tag” vandalism attacks that took place against the city recently.