Detained Ayham Al S. already named as IS security chief in 2018

Syrian refugee Ayham Al S., who is Tuesday arrested in Arkel, was already mentioned on an international news site in 2018 as a manager in the security service of IS, reports de Volkskrant. Nevertheless, the man received a residence permit in 2019.

Articles on the news site Al Araby from April 2018 refer to 37-year-old Al S. by his full name as “emir of the security service” of Islamic State (IS), in southern Damascus. It also mentions his warrior name: Abu Khaled al-Amni.

A Syrian propaganda site reported in the same month, April 2018, that an IS security agent by that name was involved in negotiations with the Syrian regime about the withdrawal of IS from Yarmouk, the Palestinian neighborhood near Damascus. The reports are in line with the suspicion that the Public Prosecution Service (OM) announced on Tuesday when Al S. was arrested.

According to the judiciary, between 2015 and 2018, the Syrian was a manager at the Amni, the IS security service responsible for espionage, kidnappings and murder. According to the judiciary, he also worked for two years from 2013 for the security service of the terrorist organization Jabhat al Nusra.

Al S. was arraigned on Friday and will be detained for at least another two weeks. The Immigration and Naturalization Service tells de Volkskrant that it cannot answer questions about individual cases.