Laith Alebbini, 26, of Dayton, Ohio was on May 11th charged for attempting to provide material support to ISIS. He was accused of trying to surrender himself in support of ISIS. The arrest of the 26-year-old was made at the Kentucky International Airport on the 26th of April. Alebbini is a legal resident of the United States and a citizen of Jordan. If found guilty, he will serve up to 20 years in prison.
ISIS recruitments in the United States
ISIS recruitments in the United States are mostly done online. Most become radicalized after reading and watching propaganda material online.
Some are recruited through social media. Some who successfully join the group in Syria and Iraq tend to entice their friends back home to join them. Some recruits are also believed to be radicalized in U.S mosques. Recruits believe in the ISIS goals and agendas which are to create a perfect Islamic State and to restore old Islamic ideologies such as the Caliphate and the Ottoman Empire.
In early 2015, it was believed that more than 20,000 foreigners from 90 countries had joined ISIS in Syria and Iraq, according to the National Counter-terrorism Center. 4,300 fighters were thought to have come from western countries. 180 of them were Americans, and a majority of them were teenagers. According to a statistic done by the George Washington University Program on Extremism early last year, the average age of an ISIS recruit is 26 years.
86 percent were men and 40 percent were believed to have recently converted to Islam before pledging allegiance to the group.
ISIS attacks in the United States
On 23rd October 2014, in Jamaica Queens, New York City, a new converter of Islam and an ISIS supporter by the name Zale H. Thompson attacked two police officers with a hatchet.
Three people were left wounded including two police officers. The attacker was shot dead by police.
On May 3rd, 2015, in Garland Texas, Elton Simpson, and Nadir Soofi, shot at officers at the entrance of an exhibit that displayed cartoon images of Muhammad. Both attackers were killed.
On December 2nd, 2015 at the Inland Regional Centre in San Bernadino California, Married couple Rizwan Farook, and Tashfeen Malika open fire at the Inland Regional Center before fleeing.
14 people were killed during the incident including both perpetrators while 24 were injured.
On 12th June 2016, a 29-year-old security guard by the name Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 53 in a gay night club called Pulse located in Orlando Florida.
On November 28th, 2016, Abdul Razak Ali Artan stabbed people and rammed others with a car at Ohio State University. 11 people were injured. The perpetrator was killed.
