In addition to journalistic analyses published by global media outlets—which we present here—there is an investigative report prepared by the X Minority investigative team who are specializing in tracking the activities of Al-Qaeda in Syria.
Global outlets reported the following:
ABC News, citing senior intelligence and law-enforcement officials, reported that in 2024, while he was in Oman Air co-pilot training, he was found with extremist material, classified a security risk, removed from flying, and moved to an administrative role.
The Wall Street Journal and AP, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Oman barred him from flying over concerns he had adopted radical ideological views. A regional diplomat told CNN he was taken off flight training for radical views and reassigned. CBS and Fox sources have said Omani surveillance detected visits to radical websites, after which he was desk-bound and later left the airline; Flydubai reportedly hired him without checking with Omani authorities.
Reported social-media and ideological material CNN’s analysis of deleted accounts (LinkedIn, Instagram, X) linked to the name found:
Posts appearing after the incident (timing and authorship not fully clear; some may have been scheduled) that included cockpit footage of Israeli aircraft (El Al, Arkia), geolocated in one case to Dubai airport, ending with images of former al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi (the Jordanian who carried out the 2009 suicide bombing at a CIA base in Afghanistan).
Earlier material (roughly 2021–2022 tweets and a February 2022 LinkedIn post) described by CNN as deeply religious and misogynistic: conditions for a wife that included wearing a niqab and leaving work after marriage, and arguments that mixed-gender workplaces corrupt women.
Israel’s Channel 12 has cited investigators as saying he underwent indoctrination linked to al-Qaeda ideology and met religious figures.
X Minority investigative team report:
An investigative analysis by the “X-Minority” investigative team—which specializes in Al-Nusra Front and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria—confirms that the Al-Qaeda organization remains active in the country. Evidence linking information regarding HTS training over the past decade—as well as the existence of a military faction formed by HTS based on a suicide-attack ideology—indicates the presence of specialized suicide operatives. These individuals, who have been deployed to various countries, are linked to the HTS Sharia Council. Furthermore, data suggests that Al-Hamami, who spent years in northern Syria, received his training within the ranks of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
