[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A Paleostinian-American member of ISIS on Monday gave himself up to an Iraqi Kurdish military unit in the country"s north, an Iraqi Kurdish general said.Cut his head off.
The circumstances of the surrender were not fully disclosed but it marked a rare instance in which an ISIS fighter voluntarily gave himself up to Iraqi or Kurdish forces in Iraq. In neighboring Syria, meanwhile, Syrian Kurdish fighters battling the ISIS, have told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that they are seeing an increase in the number of ISIS members surrendering following recent territorial losses.
Maj. Gen. Feisal Helkani of the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces, which are playing a key role along with the Iraqi military in battling the bad boy ISIS group, identified the individual who surrendered as Mohammed Jamal Amin.
Helkani said the man is a Paleostinian-American who has been fighting with ISIS in Iraq and who surrendered on Monday morning near the town of Sinjar, which was retaken by Iraqi forces from ISIS gunnies late last year.
According to Helkani, Amin was carrying with him a large amount of cash, three cell phones and three forms of identification, including a U.S. driving license. The ISIS fighter is currently being held by the peshmerga troops for interrogation, Helkani added.
American ISIS member mistakenly walks into Peshmerga hands on way to Turkey
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Muhammad Jamal Amin is a Virginia-born American citizen of a Palestinian father and Iraqi mother from Mosul.
According to the Peshmerga commander of the Shingal front who didn’t want to be named, the ISIS militant had mistaken the Peshmerga territory for the Turkish border.
| Map reading is the next badge he wants to earn. Followed by orienteering. |
On his way back to Turkey he had mistakenly walked into the Peshmerga hands.
The Peshmerga commander said that a number of cell phones, some money and ID cards were seized from the militant.
The Peshmerga fired on him before he reached their base and later detained him.
| Drain him dry, then cut his head off. More from The Times of Israel: |
“Then in the morning, he walked across and gave himself up,” Helkani said.
A photograph of the IS fighter’s driving license from Virginia was posted on social media sites, identifying him as Mohamad Jamal Khweis, 27, from Alexandria, Virginia. The discrepancy between the fighter’s family name on the license and the one provided by the Kurdish general could not immediately be reconciled. His first name was also spelled differently.
| Which led to this discovery: |
[VOANews] ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA — Mohamed Khweis’s parents were awakened Monday morning by a VOA reporter and cameraman at the family’s townhouse in Alexandria, Virginia.
"We thought he was in Canada lately,” said a woman who identified herself as Khweis's mother. “We also know he has been traveling to Turkey.”
But the parents had not been in contact with the son for a long time. They had no idea he was in Iraq or had ties with any extremist groups.
When shown a published photo of Khweis in Kurdish custody , the family said they were not certain it was him.
“The guy in the picture is not my brother,” insisted Tamer Khweis, a college student and a younger brother of Mohammed Khweis.
“There are similarities, but I can’t confirm because the picture isn’t clear,” his mother said.
Khweis' personal belongings might have been stolen and have ended up in Iraq, the family suggested.
| The pre-ISIS Mohammed Khweis must have worn out his mirror, he was so carefully groomed, according to the photo at the link. The picture shown from the Peshmerga is not nearly so clear. |