Next stop: Europe as a refugee?
Majdal Shams (AFP) – Shortly before sunset, Nidal Salah stared across the fence towards his new life in Syria with the Islamic State movement — paraglider at the ready.
Firing up the engine-powered glider, the 23-year-old Arab Israeli rose over the Israeli-Syrian demarcation line towards the town of Jamlah, controlled by an IS-affiliated group.
He became the first Israeli to take such a route to enter Syria’s civil war, with his plans apparently unknown to his family and authorities, who minutes later scrambled military helicopters.
His fate had been a mystery, but in an interview with AFP his family confirmed they have received multiple messages from him, including a photo apparently showing him with two other jihadists.
His trip sparked an investigation in Israel, where authorities have since arrested six others suspected of seeking to join IS.
– A daring plan –
For his family, Salah’s fate was sealed nearly a year earlier, in November 2014, the day another man, Jihad Hijala, walked out of prison.
Hijala had been in Syria, allegedly with an Al-Qaeda affiliate, but returned to Israel and was jailed for six months.
After he was released, he returned to his hometown of Jaljulia north of Tel Aviv, where the Salahs also live. Hijala is accused of quickly setting about establishing a jihadist cell that would eventually travel to Syria.
Among those he recruited was Salah, who fell under the spell of the man three years his senior, his family said. The Salahs are Muslim but the family are not particularly devout.
“His personality changed,” said his brother Samih, who shared a bedroom with him until recently.
“He banned listening to music, and would only listen to (recordings of) the Koran.”
Salah’s uncle Rifaat accused the Israeli security agency Shin Bet of failing to monitor Hijala’s activities.
“If Israel wanted to stop him, they could have stopped him,” he said.