New York Man Arrested for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS

A criminal complaint was filed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Syed Aman, a U.S. citizen and resident of Nassau County, New York, with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Aman was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK Airport) in Queens, New York, on Nov. 5 as he tried to board a flight to Doha, Qatar, from which he intended to ultimately travel to Syria to join ISIS. Aman’s initial appearance is scheduled for this afternoon.

As alleged in the complaint, throughout 2023 and 2024, Aman expressed his support for ISIS through social media posts in an online ISIS group forum, sent money to an individual he believed to be an ISIS operative that was intended to support ISIS’s efforts in Syria and made arrangements to travel to Syria to engage in jihad, or holy war, on behalf of ISIS.

Since the beginning of October, Aman has been in contact with a confidential human source (CHS) working with the FBI about Aman’s plan to join ISIS in Syria. Aman expressed that “jihad and hijrah,” referring to traveling to ISIS-controlled territory and waging war on ISIS’s behalf, are “the most important thing, more than anything else at the moment.” Aman shared with the CHS Aman’s hatred for “kuffar [non-believers] who deny the path of Allah.” Aman explained to the CHS, “[i]f you don’t kill them they will kill us and ruin the earth with decay.” During this same time period, Aman also posted on a social media platform his desire “to kill Americans” and wrote in a notebook his intent to study becoming a shaheed, or martyr on behalf of ISIS.

Read more: Department of Justice