DEARBORN — Faouzi Mohamad Ayoub, a former Dearborn resident on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorist” list, was killed in Syria this week while fighting with Hizbullah alongside Syria’s government forces.

Ayoub, 47, served as a senior commander with Hizbullah. The FBI was alerted of his death from a twitter account affiliated with the militant group. They had been fighting in Syria to support President Bashar Al-Assad against the rebels. 

Ayoub was born in Lebanon. He lived in Dearborn for several years after moving from Canada when he married a Detroit woman.

According to the FBI, Ayoub was indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Michigan on August 5, 2009, for using a forged U.S. passport to travel to Israel to conduct a bombing on behalf of Hizbullah.

Several cases of Canadians fighting in the Syrian Civil War have emerged since the conflict erupted two years ago. However, this marks the first report of an American resident who was involved in the conflict.

In the spring, the FBI announced that it would be concentrating on “home-grown terrorism” across the nation, in fears that some residents had been plotting to fly to Lebanon or Syria and engage in the war. 

In March, 22-year-old Mohammad Hassan Hamdan was arrested at Detroit Metro Airport by the FBI, who had been keeping tabs on him after he allegedly told an undercover informant that he had plans to fight in the Syrian Civil War with Hizbullah. He has since been jailed and awaits trail in federal court. 

Hamdan was not the only American arrested for alleged ties to a foreign militant group. That same week,  20-year-old Nicholas Teausant of California was also arrested and charged with attempts to provide material support or resources to Al-Qaeda. 

Since their arrests, families and friends of the two men have strongly protested the charges.