OVERSEAS ARMED CONFLICT ASPIRATIONS
On Tuesday, ISD also announced it had issued a restriction order to 30-year-old Muhammad Jihadul Mustaqiim Mahmud in July this year.
The self-employed online business owner had harboured aspirations to engage in armed violence against former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, before its collapse last December.
“He also considered taking up arms against Greece in defence of Turkїye, in relation to the territorial disputes between the two countries,” ISD said.
Jihadul first learnt of the Syrian conflict in 2011 through social media, and became vested as he empathised with the suffering of the Syrian civilians. He developed a hatred towards the Assad regime, which he viewed as oppressive.
In 2019, he became frustrated after Assad’s regime recaptured rebel-held territory.
“As he was also facing setbacks in his personal life, he avidly consumed online content about the conflict to distract himself,” ISD said.
Later that year, he wanted to fight alongside Syrian rebel groups to overthrow the Assad regime, as he wanted to escape his reality and die a “meaningful death”.
Jihadul learnt in 2022 about Malhama Tactical, a group of private Syrian military contractors who were training rebels to fight against the Assad regime, and considered joining their training in the Syrian city of Idlib.
Even after the fall of the Assad regime, Jihadul remained interested in the situation in Syria. He had engaged in online discussions about the situation there with an alleged Syrian-based extremist since March this year.
He had hoped to travel to Syria at the end of this year to meet the latter, although he did not make specific travel preparations, ISD said.
Later, Jihadul re-directed his attention to the long-standing territorial disputes between Turkїye and Greece, which he had been following since 2022.
He immersed himself in consuming information online about the disputes and considered taking up arms to defend Turkїye, should the disputes escalate into armed conflict.
Jihadul’s family members were unaware of his aspirations.
To prepare to fight overseas, Jihadul watched tactical movement videos to hone his skills and engaged in live-firing activities overseas.
He looked for firing ranges that offered specific models of assault rifles, which he had researched as prevalent among military groups in Syria and Turkїye.
“While he was unable to find any firing ranges for civilians to practise with such weapons, he visited a live-firing range in Phuket, Thailand, during his vacation in February 2025, where he operated three different conventional firearms,” ISD said.
The agency said Jihadul’s case highlights the impact that overseas conflicts can have on Singapore’s domestic security.
“Several Singaporeans have been motivated to take up arms for a variety of foreign conflicts, ranging from the Syrian conflict, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to other territorial disputes,” it noted.
“The grievance-fuelled narratives surrounding such conflicts, often framed as part of a religious, political or ideological cause, serve as trigger points.”
ISD also said on Tuesday that restriction orders against two Singaporeans have been allowed to lapse upon their expiry, as they had made good progress in their rehabilitation and no longer require close supervision.
Kuthubdeen Haja Najumudeen, 42, was detained in May 2019 for intending to travel to Syria to join ISIS. He was released from detention in May 2021 and his restriction order was allowed to lapse in May this year.
Separately, the restriction order for 59-year-old Muhammad Anwar Jailani, which was issued in June 2010, was allowed to lapse in July this year. The former unaccredited religious teacher had propagated pro-violence and segregationist views deemed detrimental to the cohesion of Singapore’s multi-racial and multi-religious society.
