Michigan man who tried to join Hezbollah in Syria pleads guilty

Mohammad Hamdan told agents he was going to Lebanon for dental work and to join Shiite terror group supporting Assad regime

By AP 16 August 2016, 4:53 am
Supporters of Hezbollah chant slogans during a televised speech by leader Hassan Nasrallah in the southern town of Insar, Lebanon, on March 6, 2016. (AFP/Mahmoud Zayyat)

DETROIT — A Detroit-area man accused of trying to travel to the Middle East to fight in Syria’s civil war pleaded guilty to making false statements involving terrorism to federal agents.

The US Attorney’s office in Detroit said 24-year-old Mohammad Hamdan of Dearborn had a plea hearing in federal court on Monday.

Authorities said Hamdan told agents he was going to Lebanon for dental work and also told an FBI confidential source that he was going there to join Hezbollah in order to fight in Syria.

Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim group in Lebanon that is classified by the US as a terrorist organization.

Hamdan was arrested in 2014 prior to boarding a flight at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

Sentencing is scheduled for November 14.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.

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