Palestinian-American Daesh fighter surrenders to Iraqi Kurds

This image made from video posted on Twitter by a Kurdish fighter shows a man that the Kurdish military says is an American member of the Daesh group shortly after he turned himself in to Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, Monday, March 14, 2016.

A 26-year-old man fighting with Daesh gave himself up to Iraqi Kurdish forces in northern Iraq on Monday and when asked, said he is a Palestinian from the United States. 
His driving license, posted on social media, had Alexandria, Virginia, as his home address and though US authorities have yet to confirm whether he is an American citizen, the incident marked a rare voluntary surrender in Iraq of a militant fighting with the militant group. 
The Daesh fighter had been "lurking near the peshmerga lines" since late Sunday night, according to Maj. Gen. Feisal Helkani of the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces who play a key role - along with the Iraqi military and Shiite militia forces - in battling the Daesh extremists. 
Helkani said his troops first tried to shoot the man, assuming he was a would-be suicide bomber. 
"Then in the morning, he walked across and gave himself up," Helkani said, adding the man is a Palestinian-American who was fighting with Daesh in Iraq. 
The surrender took place on the front lines near the town of Sinjar, which was retaken by Iraqi forces from Daesh militants late last year. 
Helkani identified the man as Mohammed Jamal Amin and said he was carrying with him a large amount of cash, three cell phones and three forms of identification, including a US driving license. The Daesh fighter is currently being held by the peshmerga troops for interrogation, Helkani added. 
The Iraqi Kurdish general did not provide further details or a hometown for the man but a photograph of an American driving license said to belong to the Daesh fighter was posted on social media, identifying him as Mohamad Jamal Khweis, 26, from Alexandria, Virginia. 
The discrepancy between the fighter's family name on the license and the one provided by the Kurdish general could not immediately be reconciled. His first name was also spelled differently. 
In grainy cell phone footage, also posted on social media shortly after the surrender, the man is seen on a hillside, standing with his hands behind his back, head slightly bowed. He is surrounded by Iraqi Kurdish troops and responds to an officer's questions. He says he is from the United States and that he is Palestinian.
In response to the interrogator's question, he says he was in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, which has been under Daesh control since the group blitzed across Iraq to capture much of the country's north and west in the summer of 2014. 
In the Kingstowne neighborhood of Fairfax County, listed as Khweis' home on the driver's license, a man who said he is Khweis' father said he was leaving to meet with authorities to find out what they knew. He became angry when a reporter tried to ask him about his son and suggested it was unfair to ask him to account for his grown son. 
"He's 26. Almost 27. He's a grown man, just like you," he told a reporter. 
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said he could not verify that the individual is an American or that he defected from Daesh. 
"We are aware of the reports, aware that a US citizen allegedly fighting for Daesh has been captured by peshmerga forces in northern Iraq," he said, using an alternative acronym for Daesh. "We're in touch with Iraqi and Kurdish authorities to determine the veracity of these reports. I don't have any further information to share at this time." 
"We're just learning of it," Davis added. 
Though rare in Iraq, Syrian Kurdish fighters battling Daesh in neighboring Syria have told The Associated Press that they are seeing an increase in the number of Daesh members surrendering following recent territorial losses.

• MENA