Jordanian in Ohio convicted of trying to join Islamic State

CINCINNATI – A Jordanian citizen who was living in Ohio has been convicted of attempting to join the Islamic State to fight against the Syrian leadership.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the U.S. Justice Department announced 28-year-old Laith Waleed Alebbini was convicted Thursday of attempting to and conspiring to join the terrorist group.

Alebbini was arrested at the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Kentucky in 2017.

Prosecutors say he is a legal permanent resident of the U.S., and he was trying to fly to Turkey or Jordan before joining with Islamic State group fighters in Syria.

The justice department says Alebbini wanted to become a suicide bomber and told a friend that the Islamic State was “fighting a survival war.”

He faces up to 20 years in prison for each conviction.