Daesh fighter wants to return to Italy

qamishli (syria) — A Daesh fighter detained in Syria urged Italy on Saturday to let him come home to start a new life, saying said he had abandoned the self-styled militant “caliphate” after growing disillusioned with its rulers.

Mounsef Al Mkhayar, a 22-yearold of Moroccan descent who grew up in Italy, spoke in his first interview since surrendering to the USbacked Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) two months ago.

He has been in prison since emerging from Baghouz, a tiny village in eastern Syria where the SDF is poised to wipe out the last vestige of Daesh rule.

Mkhayar gave an account of growing chaos among militants on the brink of defeat, and of disputes in the ranks as top commanders fled Syria. But he said Daesh was also planning for the next phase, smuggling out hundreds of men to set up sleeper cells across Iraq and eastern Syria: “They said ‘We must get revenge’.”

Kurdish security officials identified him as Italian and he said he holds Italian citizenship.

“I wish to return to Italy to my family and friends ... for them to accept and help me to live a new life,” said Mkhayar, who walks on crutches after shelling injured his leg. “I just want to get out of this movie, I’m tired.”

However, Mkhayar was sentenced to eight years in jail by a Milan court in 2017 for spreading Daesh propaganda and trying to recruit Italians to its cause, Italian media say. As a result, he is likely to have to serve this sentence if he does return to Italy.

Amid a string of military defeats in eastern Syria, Daesh leaders were in disarray, killing off rival clerics and commanders, Mkhayar said. He said he had tried to quit the fighting but had been imprisoned, and then dispatched back to the frontlines as attacks intensified.

He wound up in Baghouz, where he said the militants were split between wanting to give up or fight to the death. Mkhayar said his wife, a Syrian Kurdish woman from Kobani whom he had married three years ago, helped convince him to leave. —

I wish to return to Italy to my family and friends ... for them to accept and help me to live a new life. I just want to get out of this movie, I’m tired

Mounsef Al Mkhayar, Daesh fighter