Infamous Australian-Lebanese IS Fighter Reported Dead in Syria

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Canberra said Thursday there was a "high probability" a notorious Islamic State fighter born in Australia to Lebanese migrant parents and two of his children had been killed in a US airstrike in Syria.

Reports said Khaled Sharrouf and his sons Abdullah, 12, and Zarqawi, 11, were killed last Friday while driving near the IS bastion of Raqa.

Sharrouf sparked international revulsion in 2014 when he posted pictures on social media of Abdullah holding the rotting severed head of a soldier.

The father of five had used his other children in propaganda videos, including one that surfaced this year in which he grilled his youngest son about killing non-Muslims as the six-year-old handled guns and knives.

"Nobody will mourn his passing... I can assure you of that," Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told Channel Nine.

The Australian newspaper and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, both citing unnamed government sources, reported the death of Sharrouf and his sons.

But he was mistakenly reported killed in a drone strike in 2015 and Dutton said Canberra was still awaiting official confirmation that the latest accounts were accurate.

"There's a high level of confidence, but this guy's been like a cat with nine lives," he said. 

"There have been reports of his demise and his death before which have been proven, obviously, to be wrong."

Sharrouf, believed to have been born in Australia to Lebanese migrant parents, left for Syria in 2013 with his wife Tara Nettleton and five children.

- Child deaths 'regrettable' -Earlier this year, he became the first Australian to be stripped of his citizenship under anti-terrorism laws.

Nettleton reportedly died last year after falling ill, while the fate of the other children is unknown.

Dutton said if the latest reports were correct it was "regrettable" that two of Sharrouf's children died alongside him.

But he said the jihadist and his wife put their offspring in harm's way by taking them to Syria, adding: "It's hard to imagine what other outcome they could have imagined for their children."

"The fact is that the Sharroufs took their children into a war zone," he said. 

"They've poisoned their minds, they've indoctrinated young children and if they've been killed along with their father that is regrettable. 

"But that is a decision that was made by the parents by taking them into that war zone. It speaks to the character, or lack thereof, of Mr Sharrouf and his wife."

Dutton was non-committal when asked if the other siblings, two girls and a boy, would be allowed back into Australia.

"Obviously it is difficult to get the intelligence out of a war zone like Syria and we'll wait to see what evidence there is in relation to where they are or their status," he said.

"At the moment we don't have that information."

The children's maternal grandmother, Karen Nettleton, has previously campaigned for their return, denying they had been indoctrinated by the violence their parents exposed them to.

"They're not lost, they're not gone, they're just kids," she told the ABC in May.

"With the right help they should be OK. They will be OK."

Comments 15
Thumb kataebi1965 over 6 years

Good bloody riddance

Thumb galaxy over 6 years

and a shia ( I meant Christian ) troll like you who pledges allegiance to Iran defines who is a traitor, right?

When your Nassrallah says his food, weapons, salaries all come from Iran, he is a patriot. right?

Thumb janoubi over 6 years

no it means he is an employee of Iran.,

Thumb justin over 6 years

actually a delegation from hezbollah visited Iran recently and pledged allegiance to Khamanei in front of khamanei.

Thumb ado.australia over 6 years

SOS, the Palestinians aren't traitors to Lebanon because they are not Lebanese... I agree. But those Lebanese that sided with them against fellow Lebanese are! They caused the Lebanese civil war. Imagine if the Lebanese war never happened! UAE, Dubai... all these city/states would be nothing next to Beirut and Lebanon! What changed as a result of the war? Are we more Arab? We are not Arab... We should never submit to being Arab. We are Lebanese! We dont speak the same language... We respect Arab and Turks etc but we are LEBANESE!! Be proud!!!

Thumb gigahabiib over 6 years

My boyfriend The Mystic told me that he resents bringing up the rice and flowers welcome of Israeli soldiers when they entered Lebanon. He claims that the Israelis were ridding the shia of Jabal Amel of something called Fatehland that his the shia of Jabal amel and their allies helped create when they supported it instead of the republic of Lebanon. When I asked him about something called Hezbland, he becomes angry and tell me that is completely different from Fatehland because Palestinians did not have a Lebanese citizenship. But everything else is the same but never mind. Then I brought up Yehia Skafff, Samir Kuntar and such who were fighting under Palestinian banners he became more upset. I thing I will stop asking him questions. He hates it when I'm right, it's a cultural thing.

Thumb galaxy over 6 years

ya troll, the Lebanese civil war ended 30 years ago. Lebanon's problems and lack of development is not due to the civil war but to the existence of your hezbollah and its jihadi wars. How many wars with Israel has your hezbollah lost in a divine victory since the civil war? How many times did Israel destroy our infrastructure?

Stop your paid propaganda and get yourself educated.

Thumb gigahabiib over 6 years

Funny the other day I asked my boyfriend The Mystic what is the Republic of Lebanon? He answered my that the Republic of Lebanon is the land withing the Lebanese border. So then I asked him so traitors to the republic of Lebanon are those who do not believe in this border, right? He shook his head in agreement. Then I thought but in the Lebanese Parliament there are three parties who do not believe or respect the Lebanese borders and those parties are the Baath, the SSNP and the.. well I did not ask him the question because I knew it would upset him.

Thumb ansarullah over 6 years

ما بدنا جيش بلبنان إلا جيشك يا حسين

Thumb gigahabiib over 6 years

Boyfriend The Mystic, did you want me to post "ما بدنا جيش بلبنان إلا جيشك يا حسين"? I notice that you decided to post it yourself.

Thumb justin over 6 years

ado and how is that related to the article and your BS stories?

Thumb Elemental over 6 years

Who cares, one less paycheck for Iran to write.

Thumb gigahabib over 6 years

I'm sure he's a Shia, right?

Thumb galaxy over 6 years

no but you are

Thumb warrior over 6 years

it does not seem so gigahabil but the 50,000 hezbollah terrorists are shia for sure.