The story of Araby Ibrahim, also known as Araby al-Hadj Dib, an alleged Lebanese jihadist who holds a Danish passport, is just one of many immigrants who decided to return home to fight what they believe is a holy war in Syria. The Danish man was arrested some time in June on suspicion of being a member of the Islamic State (IS).

His lawyer, Fawaz Zakaria, said he was charged with being a member of a terrorist group in Syria in addition to taking part in the internal strife in Tripoli. Zakaria denied in an interview with Al-Monitor that Ibrahim took part in the fighting in Lebanon but acknowledged that he fought in Syria. "He wanted to help the Syrian people get rid of the regime, he fought with several groups; first with Ahrar al-Sham, then [Jabhat] al-Nusra and finally with IS. His goal was to help the Syrian people face the regime's crimes.” Ibrahim is being prosecuted for fighting in Syria, yet Hezbollah militants are fighting with the regime side by side and are killing Syrians without being told a word; this isn't law, this is the corrupted Lebanese system,” Zakaria said.

Ibrahim was arrested and the Lebanese security forces killed his cousin, Swedish passport holder Munzer al-Hassan, who is suspected of being the mastermind behind the Duroy Hotel bombing in Beirut on June 14 that involved two Saudi nationals.

“[Ibrahim] left Copenhagen for Hama, Syria, via Turkey,” a Lebanese security source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “There he fought with IS against Ahrar al-Sham, before he was captured by this group in early January. But one of the captors identified him, since they know his father very well. They called the latter as a favor and handed him his son,” the source said.