Man Held for Trying to Travel to Turkey to Join IS

The Lebanese General Security on Friday announced arresting a young man who tried to travel to Turkey to join the extremist Islamic State group, which has seized vast swathes of Syria and Iraq.

“As part of its efforts to monitor the activities of terrorist groups, especially militants who brainwash Lebanese youths into joining and fighting alongside such groups, the General Directorate of General Security arrested Lebanese national O. H.,” it said in a statement.

“During interrogation, he confessed that he had been seeking to travel from Lebanon to Turkey to join the Daesh terrorist group and take part in its combat activities,” the agency added.

The young man said his decision was “facilitated by Lebanese national S. A.” and “encouraged by Lebanese nationals Y. H. and A. H., who are both fighting in Syria alongside the aforementioned group.”

“After the end of interrogation, he was referred to the relevant judicial authorities and efforts are underway to arrest all those involved,” the General Security added.

Several Lebanese young men have been killed fighting alongside the IS group in Syria and Iraq.

As of March 2015, the group has maintained control over territory occupied by ten million people in Iraq and Syria, as well as limited territorial control in Libya and Nigeria. The group also operates or has affiliates in other parts of the world, including South Asia.

The United Nations has held the IS responsible for human rights abuses and war crimes, and Amnesty International has reported ethnic cleansing by the group on a "historic scale."

Over 60 countries are directly or indirectly waging war against the group and airstrikes target its positions in Syria and Iraq on daily basis.

Y.R.