Residents of Bouchmeh village in Gabes gathered in silent shock last week to console the family of Abdul Sami Masoudi, a young Tunisian man who went to Libya to fight with ISIS and died in US strikes on ISIS locations in the Libyan city of Subrata. Forty people died in the strike, the majority of whom were Tunisians.

Masoudi’s family still doesn’t know the identity of the Libyans who called them, informing them of their son’s death, according to Masoudi’s brother Mohammed:

Residents of Bouchmeh village in Gabes gathered in silent shock last week to console the family of Abdul Sami Masoudi, a young Tunisian man who went to Libya to fight with ISIS and died in US strikes on ISIS locations in the Libyan city of Subrata. Forty people died in the strike, the majority of whom were Tunisians.

Masoudi’s family still doesn’t know the identity of the Libyans who called them, informing them of their son’s death, according to Masoudi’s brother Mohammed:

“We received several phone calls that only lasted a few minutes. We were told that Masoudi was martyred. The callers refused to answer any of our questions about how he died and where his body was,” he said.

Masoudi’s brother added that his family continued to receive daily condolences without knowing when his brother’s body would arrive to be buried.

Also killed in the US raid on Subrata were brothers Fahmi and Nazim Jhaidari. Their deaths were similarly confirmed to their father Ali by unknown sources.

According to Masoudi’s brother, Bouchmeh village in Gabes governorate, which is poorly development and has a high unemployment rate, witnessed the disappearance of numerous young men including his brother and the Jhaidari brothers.

“They suddenly disappeared and only informed their families of their arrival to Libya after crossing the border illegally,” Mohammed said. “We immediately informed the security authorities hoping to save them from joining the terrorist organizations that managed to lure them.”

The three young men were no more than 25 years old. The villagers said they were previously active members at Dawa and Reporting Group, which have been working publically since the reign of former President Ben Ali to disseminate the values of moderate Islam.

“Though they were active members, I did not notice any change in their behavior or outfit which would indicate their involvement in the jihadist ideology,” said Shawki Sedira, a friend of the Jhaidari brothers.

 “After their involvement in charity groups that used to distribute aid to the poor during religious events, they stopped showing up in cafes. Instead they began organizing meetings in the neighborhood’s mosque in which several strangers to the village participated.”

The families of the dead young men are confused about how were their sons were able to sneak into Libya illegally despite the defense ministry and the Ministry of Interior’s statements about the fortification of the borders and the establishment of buffer and closed military zones.

The families accused security forces of failing to dismantle the deportation networks which, they said, used to operate under the cover of charity or at the behest of smugglers to override all security and military obstacles along the border with Libya.

Retired Brigadier General of the Ministry of Interior Ali Zermedini said: “Terrorist organizations have evolved and changed the traditional methodology of al-Qaida; they exploited modern technological development to polarize young Tunisians and transform them into jihadists. They used the internet to reach those influenced by their ideology, in addition to their traditional polarizing means inside mosques and through charity groups which were established for such purposes.”

Following the polarization phase, Zermedini added, these organizations provided all necessary expenses for those interested in leaving the country to receive training on the use of various types of weapons.

Zermedini also explained that the arrival of Tunisian jihadists to Libya between 2011 and 2012 was only an initial phase after which they were supposed to be sent to Turkey through organized trips to participate in the fight against Assad’s forces. However, due to the divisions experienced by the armed factions in Syria and in order to expand the war against the Arab regimes, hundreds of Tunisians affiliated with ISIS and Ansar al-Sharia chose to stay in Libyan cities to receive military training before their return to their country to carry out attacks against tourists and security and army forces.

The US Department of Defense said the raid, which targeted the city of Tripoli weeks ago, targeted dozens of Tunisian terrorists who were planning to enter Tunisia to execute a series of terrorist operations to disrupt the public order in the country.

The Tunisian Ministry of Justice said an investigation was opened into the death of Tunisians during the mentioned raid and a judge was assigned to interrogate the wounded in order to obtain information that would lead to discovering terrorist plots against the state and determining the dead Tunisians identities.

The families of the dead are still waiting the arrival of their sons’ bodies from Libya to complete the burial ceremony. They accused the Tunisian authorities of failing to find out the truth about the circumstances of their deaths.

Experts warn against the danger of jihadists’ infiltration from Libya who would use fake passports and seek refuge among the displaced persons if a direct Western military strike against ISIS takes place in Libya.