Army vet tied to Syrian rebels is charged in U.S.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A U.S. Army veteran, who boasted on Facebook of his military adventures with Syrian rebels, was charged Thursday with firing rocket-propelled grenades as part of an attack led by an al-Qaeda group against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Eric Harroun, 30, of Phoenix, was charged in U.S. District Court in Alexandria with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction - specifically, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher - outside the United States.

According to an FBI affidavit, Harroun, who served three years in the Army before being medically discharged after a car accident, was engaged in military action in Syria, siding with rebel forces against the Syrian government, from January to March of this year.

Harroun told FBI investigators that he traveled to Turkey in November hoping to join the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group. In January, he crossed the border and made contact with the Free Syrian Army, which outfitted him with two Russian rifles, according to the affidavit.

Within days, Harroun participated in an attack on a Syrian army encampment that was carried out jointly by the Free Syrian Army and the al-Nusrah Front, commonly known as "al-Qaeda in Iraq" and designated a terrorist group by the United States, according to the affidavit.

Harroun said al-Nusrah fighters would ask him why the United States had designated them as terrorists, according to the affidavit.

He used RPG launchers in the attacks and once, on his Facebook page, claimed credit for downing a Syrian helicopter. According to the affidavit, Harroun told the FBI that he shot an estimated 10 people in his various battles, though he was unsure if he had ever killed anyone.

On the Facebook page, Harroun also stated that "the only good Zionist is a dead Zionist" and that he intended to travel to the Palestinian territory because of Israeli actions there, according to the affidavit.

Harroun flew back to the United States on Wednesday through Dulles International Airport. He was arrested after being questioned by FBI agents there.