(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Charlie Sleiman Haddad reportedly died in a suicide mission in Iraq after the 28-year-old joined the Islamic State to fight on the front lines. Now his family is reacting — and sources say they’re still shocked at their son’s decision.
Haddad was born in the Koura district of Lebanon to a modest Christian family of middle class workers. But his life seemed to change after his family moved to the Zahrieh area of Tripoli due to financial constraints.
Haddad’s brothers worked for the Lebanese Security Forces while he worked at Azmi Street’s clothing store in Tripoli. But things took a turn when Haddad suddenly stopped attending church to spend more time visiting Tripoli souks where he would meet Islamist youth.
Relatives, who wanted to remain anonymous, told Beirut-based newspaper The Daily Star that Haddad expressed negative stances toward church duties and rituals.
Months later, Haddad informed his family he was converting to Islam and joining ISIS. Just days before he moved to Turkey for military training, relatives say Haddad moved out of his family’s home.
This is when sources say he was recruited by ISIS to carry out terrorist attacks in Lebanon, but instead, ISIS sent him to Turkey for training.
Haddad visited the mayor of Zahrieh George Attieh in October 2014 where he was granted a passport to visit Turkey. Attieh says he had no idea Haddad was joining ISIS.
“The (Haddad) parents are very good people and this case is not worthy of them,” Attieh told the Daily Star.
The Haddad family is of Syrian origin and were nationalized in 1955 after a general decree was first instituted. But Haddad’s uncle Milad, a house painter, still holds Syrian citizenship, according to family members.
The Daily Star says that most of his family works in construction, including his father Sleiman who works in sewage systems.
Reports of Haddad’s death come just days after media reports alleged that George Nabih Dibeh, 23, joined ISIS in Iraq.
His family says that although Dibeh has converted to Islam, the media reports were false and that he had not joined ISIS.
Dibeh comes from a well-known Orthodox Christian family in Tripoli, where he was reportedly an active parishioner at a local church. He was pursuing higher education in France, when he suddenly came back to visit his family and announce he’s converting to Islam.