LONDON: A boy who was taken to Syria by his mother and stepfather and forced to issue a threat of war on US soil to President Donald Trump has spoken of the “sweet relief” of being back home, one year after being extracted from a Kurdish detention camp.
While in Syria, Matthew, now 13, was taught how to disassemble assault rifles and build explosives, and was tutored by his stepfather about how to conduct a suicide attack against his would-be American rescuers.
Matthew was also infamously forced to feature in a Daesh propaganda video in which he, aged 10, threatened Trump: “This battle isn’t going to end in Raqqa or Mosul. It’s going to end in your lands … So get ready, for the fighting has just begun.”
Matthew told the BBC that it was a “sweet relief” to be back in the US. “It’s happened and it’s done. It’s all behind me now,” he said. “I was so young I didn’t really understand any of it.” Matthew is now living safely with his father Juan.
He was taken to Syria via Turkey by his mother Samantha Sally and stepfather Moussa Elhassani in April 2015.
Elhassani, who trained as a Daesh sniper in Syria, was killed in a suspected drone strike, and Sally was convicted this month of financing terrorism. She is facing six and a half years in jail.
