(Sydney Morning Herald) Like many a 20-year-old, Greenacre youth Isaak el Matari harboured big ambitions.
But if allegations made against him in court this week prove correct, his dreams were far from the run-of-the-mill variety shared by most young men his age. Instead, they were of the deadliest kind: a self-aggrandising fantasy steeped in the bloody ethos of Islamic State.
According to police, el Matari fancied himself as the “general commander of Islamic State Australia” with plans to create a “stronghold” in the Blue Mountains from which to launch “guerrilla-style” attacks against his fellow citizens. “We are terrorists,” he had allegedly proclaimed to others, boasting of his willingness to sacrifice himself for the jihadist cause.
And it was not just talk, police say.
