Report: Jack Joins ISIL as Extremists Continue to Recruit Tripoli's Youth
Security forces are pursuing a Lebanese Christian who is allegedly affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), fearing that he might be used to carry out a dangerous terrorist act in Lebanon.
According to As Safir newspaper published on Thursday, security forces called the 28-year-old outlaw “Jack”.
Jack hails from an Orthodox family that resides in al-Zahiriya in the northern city of Tripoli and had recently traveled to Turkey from where he headed to Syria and pledged allegiance to ISIL, the newspaper quoted his brother as saying in his testimony to the army.
A security source voiced fear that Jack could be “tasked with carrying out a terrorist act in Lebanon by using his Christian ID,” similarly to Elie Warraq, also known as Abu Ali, who has converted to Islam and was plotting to enter the Casino with his ID and carry out a suicide bombing.
Warraq was arrested in January.
Investigations, according to the report, are focusing on the relation between Warraq and Jack, who disappeared after the army intelligence arrested Abu Ali.
Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) later on Thursday reported that Jack was killed in Syria's Raqqa.
He was committed to his religion, sources told the newspaper. However, he began meeting with Islamist extremists in Tripoli's notorious inner markets before he disappeared.
He reportedly visited Turkey twice, where he met with ISIL officials and underwent military training. He then returned to Lebanon to inform his parents that he converted to Islam and headed to Syria via Turkey again.
Turkey has been previously accused by its Western allies of failing to do enough to stop jihadists crossing into Syria from its territory.
Jack's family tried to convince him to return to Lebanon after he resided in Syria, but he refused, stressing that he chose Islam as his religion.
The daily obtained information that another Christian, who also hails from Tripoli, could have pledged allegiance to ISIL. But he remains under surveillance as his whereabouts are known.
The newspaper continued that the extremist organizations are taking advantage of their poor financial conditions to recruit them.
“Around 400 youths have been recruited in the north to join extremists,” sources said, pointing out that they are leaving their homes in complete secrecy.
In the past two weeks, several young men headed to Iraq to join ISIL, including Aa.Aa., who hails from the northern district of Dinniyeh.
H.K.
G.K.
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