Sydney ISIS recruiter destroyed a whole family
It was one of the most astonishing stories of suburban jihad: four brothers, devout Muslims, decamp en masse to the Islamic State, leaving their devastated parents grappling for answers.
Now a family friend says at least three are believed to be dead, and the fourth is unaccounted for.
In a tragedy on top of tragedy, their father has perished too.
Issam Elbaf, whose sons Taha, Hamza, Bilal and Omar fled for Syria in late 2014, succumbed to cancer this year, his family in shreds, his heart broken. Family friend Jamal Rifi said the boys’ mother, Bassima, is devastated. The family home in Yagoona in Sydney’s southwest is shuttered.
Dr Rifi said Bassima had gone to live with her remaining son.
“The parents and the siblings that are left in Australia are the first victims of would-be terrorists,’’ Dr Rifi said.
“They are the invisible victims of the hateful ideology of the so-called Islamic State.’’
In November 2014 Taha, Hamza, Bilal and Omar told their parents they had won an all-expenses-paid holiday to Thailand.
It seems the four boys, aged between 17 and 28, had fallen under the spell of an Islamic State recruiter. Issam Elbaf, before his death, said Bilal would sit for hours outside their home talking with a mysterious man.
The boys flew to Thailand, then to Turkey. Attempts were made to stop them but a text message from one of the brothers to his sister made it clear they were too late. “We made it to Bilad al-Sham, we will see you in paradise,” it said.
At a stroke the Elbafs had lost four of their six children.
The news poleaxed Issam, a Lebanese migrant and taxi driver, and his wife.
“My sons, you are dear to us. You are good at heart. You have done nothing wrong. Come back. We love you,’’ Bassima said in a statement.
They never did.
Dr Rifi said Issam died of cancer. Dr Rifi was away at the time but said a friend represented him at the funeral.
Records from Rookwood Cemetery have an Issam Elbaf dying on January 11. In accordance with Islamic custom he was buried the same day
On a trip to Lebanon last year Dr Rifi said he learned that at least three of the boys had perished in the conflict. Originally the Elbafs were from the Tripoli area.
Word of their death seems to have spread through the community.
Dr Rifi said that at a talk he gave in Tripoli, a neighbour of the Elbafs approached him, telling him the three had been killed.
The Australian’s own inquiries have confirmed that the Elbafs are believed to be among the 80-odd Australians killed in Syria.
Across Australia there are dozens of families with near identical stories.
At least 200 Australians have travelled to Syria, most to fight with Islamic State. In most cases the people they leave behind are in total ignorance about what their loved ones are doing.
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