US Soldier Arrested for Conspiring to Support ISIL – Justice Department

A US Army National Guard Soldier and his cousin have been arrested for allegedly conspiring to support the Islamic State jihadist group, the US Department of Justice said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Army National Guard Specialist Hasan Edmonds, 22, was arrested by the FBI at Chicago Midway International Airport while attempting to fly Egypt’s capital, Cairo, while his cousin, 29-year-old Jonas Edmonds, was arrested at his home in Aurora.

“According to the charges filed today, the defendants allegedly conspired to provide material support to ISIL and planned to travel overseas to support the terrorist organization,” Assistant Attorney General Carlin said in a statement.

Hasan Edmonds first caught the FBI’s attention in 2014, the Justice Department said.

A subsequent investigation revealed that “he and Jonas Edmonds had devised a plan for Hasan Edmonds to travel overseas for the purpose of waging violence” on behalf of the Islamic State.

The men had also revealed a plan to attack a US military facility in Illinois during meetings with an undercover FBI employee.

The department noted that conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is a Sunni militant group widely known for its brutality.

The group has seized vast portions of Syria and Iraq and declared the establishment of an Islamic caliphate.

A US-led international coalition has been conducting airstrikes against the group in Iraq since August 2014 and in Syria since September.