Two Australian brothers who recently joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are unlikely to be allowed to fight on ground as they are too fat, a local radio station reported Monday.

“Two of them, they are quite obese; they are not good foot soldiers,” Jamal Rifi, a leading Islamic community leader, told Sydney radio station 2UE.

“I mean, they are over 140kg and people who are going to see them there, they are going to realize, what are they going to do with them? ‘You are going to eat our food and you can’t even run on the field?’ Rifi added.

The two men travelled with their two other brothers to fight along ISIS militants earlier this year.

All four told their mother they had traveled to Syria through a text message reading: “We made it to Bilad al-Sham, we will see you in Paradise.”

The Australian government passed a law criminalizing travel to terror hotspots in October, in response to fears about the flow of foreign fighters to the Middle East.

Authorities suspect almost 70 Australians to have already made the journey to the region, with another 100 supporting them with recruitment and funding from home.

Fifteen Australians, including two suicide bombers, are already thought to have died fighting in Syria and Iraq,

Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:43 - GMT 06:43