Two Refugees Caught Aiding Terror

On January 8, 2016, two men, Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, and Omar Faraj Saeed Al–Hardan, 24, were arrested on charges of aiding Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist organizations. Al-Jayab was arrested in Sacramento, California while Al-Hardan was arrested in Houston, Texas. Both men were caught through their communications on social media. The two men came into contact when Al-Hardan sought Al-Jayab’s help in weapon proficiency and access into Syria. While he sought help from Al-Jayab in training, Al-Hardan was also found to be aiding IS through personnel and material support.  

Both men are Palestinians born in Iraq. Al-Hardan arrived to the U.S. in 2009 where he was granted permanent citizenship in 2011. It is suspected that Al-Hardan began to associate with IS around 2014 where he sought out training from Al-Jayab. In 2012, Al-Jayab came over to the U.S. as a refugee, yet he was quick to return to the Middle East in 2013 where he foughtalongside the terrorist organization Ansar al-Islam. Al-Jayab spent a full year with the organization only to return to the U.S. in 2014.  

Ansar al-Islam is a Islamic terrorist organization that largely operates in the Kurdish section of Iraq as well as parts of Syria. The group has sought to impose an Islamic caliphate and establish strict Sharia law throughout its territories. The group has long been an ally of Al Qaeda (AQ), and has generally seen conflict with IS. However, in recent years the two groups have been coming together. In 2013-2014 roughly 90% of Ansar al-Islam’s Iraqi leadership defected to IS, leaving the remaining members in Syria. This has caused a rift between IS and Ansar al-Islam in Syria, yet Al-Jayab, supporter of Ansar al-Islam, and Al-Hardan, supporter of IS, were able to find a mutual connection in order to work together. This mutual cooperation is not the first to be seen outside of the Middle East. In the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the Kouachi brothers,supporters of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and Ahmed Coulibay, supporter of IS, were able to work together despite their organizations’ differences.      

The ability for terrorist organizations to work together, poses a major threat to national governments and their security forces. Whereas in the Middle East these groups may spend precious resources on fighting or colluding against one another, they may be able to pool resources together to fight and disrupt their shared enemy, Western culture and society. While governments are currently focusing their efforts on fighting groups like IS and AQ in the Middle East, it may be wise to also rethink their border and immigration policies with the new surge of refugees coming in by the tens of thousands. As the case of Al-Jayab has illustrated, refugees are more than capable of going back and forth from terrorist controlled territory to the United States with little opposition.                                                                                                                                                                                              

With the arrest of Al-Jayab and Al-Hardan, the number of terrorist conspirators arrested reaches almost 70 in the past 18 months. The majority of these plots were foiled before they ever came to fruition, yet this speaks to the growing threat of terrorism within the United States. Groups like IS and Ansar al-Islam are able to gain recruits from all over the world, which should raise concern for governments everywhere.  It is not enough for governments to focus their forces against jihadi strongholds and areas of operations in the Middle East, but also target individuals’ and groups’ expanded networks. Governments spending billions of dollars on an ineffective air campaign has been unable to hamper terrorist operations in the Middle East, and it will not stop these groups from reigning terror on innocent people both in the Middle East and at home.