In a Reuters exclusive report Mounsef al-Mkhayar, a 22-year-old of Moroccan descent who grew up in Italy, warned that the Islamic State (ISIS) was planning for the next phase, smuggling out hundreds of men to set up sleeper cells across Iraq and eastern Syria.
He also urged Italy on Saturday to let him come home to start a new life, saying he had abandoned the self-styled jihadist caliphate after growing disillusioned with its rulers.
Mkhayar surrendered to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) two months ago. Kurdish security officials identified him as Italian, and he said he holds Italian citizenship.
In 2017, a Milan court had sentenced him to eight years in jail for spreading Islamic State propaganda and trying to recruit Italians to its cause, according to Italian media. As a result, he is likely to have to serve this sentence if he does return to Italy.
In his interview with Reuters, Mkhayar said he still believed in the idea of a caliphate for Muslims, but accused Islamic State rulers of governing their land like “a mafia”, seeking only to make money and violating their own rules with impunity. Commanders had stolen money and fled to Turkey, Iraq or Western Europe while ordering people to stay and defend Islam, he said.
