Israeli fighting in Syria said killed by US airstrike

An Arab Israeli man fighting in the ranks of the Syrian rebels was killed Sunday by a US airstrike, Nazareth-based news site Sonara said Sunday.

According to the report, Khalil Saleh a-Sayed, 28, from Umm al-Fahm, was killed by a US airstrike earlier in the day.

A-Sayed, who was married and father to one boy, had been in Syria for three years. It is not known which rebel group a-Sayed fought in, but the US says it only bombs the Islamic State, the al-Nusra Front and affiliated groups.

The report did not say where A-Sayed was killed. The US Defense Department said coalition aircraft carried out six airstrikes Sunday against Islamic State targets, in Hasakah, Raqqa and Manbij, targeting Islamic State units.

Dozens of Israelis have left Israel to fight in Syria, with some 40 of them joining the Islamic State terror group, according to recent reports.

Earlier on Sunday, a Nazareth man was charged with sending money on three separate occasions to his brother, an Islamic State fighter in Syria.

A recent Chanel 10 report found that 34 Israeli Arabs have been indicted in Israel for offenses related to activities on behalf of the Islamic State.

In November 2015, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said the Islamic State’s influence was present in the West Bank and among Israeli Arabs, but the numbers are negligible.

“In the West Bank, there are a few cells. We took out an IS cell there a while ago. A few dozen Israeli Arabs went to fight with them [in Syria]. But overall, internally, including among Israeli Arabs and in the West Bank, this is under control,” he said.

Ten Palestinians are currently “missing” from Palestinian Authority areas and believed to have joined up with IS, the report added.