This article includes interactive enhancements which are not supported on this platform. For the full interactive experience in this article, you will need a modern web browser with JavaScript enabled. Find out more about browser support at ABC News Online.

The road to radicalisation

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

In January 2014, a young Australian couple was gunned down in Aleppo by rival rebel Syrian forces.and her husbandwere devout Muslims who travelled to Syria to join the global jihad.But how do a boy from the Brisbane suburbs and a girl from the Gold Coast beaches end up dead in one of the world's most brutal conflicts?was born to a New Zealand mother and a secular Muslim father, who fled Lebanon to Australia and founded a multi-million-dollar restaurant business on the Gold Coast. She attended the exclusive Gold Coast Anglican private girls' school St Hilda's, before going on to study graphic design at QUT.teen years sunbathing on the beach, going to nightclubs and working at Sea World were a world away from the radical cause she would take up a few years later.was born in Adelaide in 1990. As a small child he moved to Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane, where his mother married a recovering drug addict.and his three younger half-brothers had a tumultuous upbringing in a fundamentalist Christian home.At 13, he moved with his mother to the United States. Separated from his younger brothers, he became involved in gangs and petty crime in the city of Colorado Springs. It was there he began his first steps on the path that would lead to an unmarked grave in Syria.Unbeknownst to his family, during his time in the US,began to associate with followers of a senior Al Qaeda Anwar Al Awlaki, who had previously been based in Colorado and later died in Yemen; Australian authorities believe he became an international emissary for Al Qaeda.From 2008, he was paid by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to travel to Egypt and Yemen, where US intelligence agencies report he was trained for warfare. He was also sent to South Africa for religious training in 2011, where he was filmed in the audience of a sermon by one of Syria's most prominent anti-government sheikhs, Muhammad Al Yaqoubi.andpaths crossed after each moved to Sydney. In her late teens, Amira moved with her sister to be closer to her Muslim relatives in Sydney's west.One of her cousins was, who served five years in jail for being a senior player in the biggest terrorism plot in Australia's history. Another cousin was, who had a history of crime dating back to his teens, including bashings, drug offences and a shooting.had taken on the nameand became a street preacher, converting Australians to Islam with other devout young men involved in the Street Dawah movement.It was through Street Dawah that he became close friends with another street preacher,arranged a marriage betweenandand a romance blossomed - but police soon discovered the marriage was part of a bigger plot. For the couple, it was another step along the path to becoming a soldier of Islam.began posting increasingly extreme statements to Facebook, writing "the hereafter is coming" and "Jannah [or paradise] is my destination". Another post said "democracy is cancer, Khilafah [the Islamic caliphate] is the answer".Months after the pair married,told friends he was going to fight alongside Al Qaeda and wouldn't be returning to Australia or the US.stepfather reported his plan to the Australian authorities, but on June 29, 2013 he flew to Turkey via Singapore.During his time at Street Dawah,had met fellow jihadist, a leader of the Street Dawah movement who would emerge as a pivotal figure drawing young Australians to Syria.It was, now based in Syria, Iraq and Turkey, who would facilitatejourney to the Syrian battlefield, along with three other young Australians.Australian authorities sayhas become the most senior Australian member of the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq, responsible for funnelling at least half of the 60 Australians currently fighting there onto the frontline. Family of the 33-year-old Afghan refugee and former Kings Cross nightclub bouncer say he claims to be living a peaceful life in Turkey.Phone calls intercepted by police tell the story of the group's journey to the battlefield.From Turkey, they crossed the border to Syria in early July, where they were given battle training by Jabhat Al Nusra, an Al Qaeda affiliate fighting Assad's forces in Syria.As with this latest generation of jihadists,embraced technology from the frontline, staying in close contact with his brother, showing off his cache of weapons - including AK-47s and hand grenades via Skype.Meanwhile,was planning on joining her husband, telling her father she wanted to be a fighter.Under the guise of a trip to visit friends in Denmark, which was funded by her cousin, she planned to make her way south to Syria.Police halted her first effort to leave the country, but the next day, with the assistance of her lawyer, she left for Denmark, where she met up with other Islamists making the journey to Syria.andwere reunited in January 2014, but instead of fighting Assad, they became embroiled in a fierce power struggle between rival rebel groups.Just days after's arrival in the rebel stronghold of, they were ambushed and executed in a makeshift home they shared with a Somali couple.Australian authorities say in a brutal takeover of their Australian Jabhat Al Nusra contingent, the house was surrounded by IS militants wielding automatic weapons and Amira and her husband were killed in a blaze of gunfire.Her father had a heart attack upon hearing the news, saying he received a call from Syria telling him his daughter's body had been dismembered and the Somali couple was buried alive.Within days,fellow fighters had joined Islamic State.