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Before Mohammad Ali Baryalei came to be known as the most senior Australian member of ISIS, he sobbed during a phone call from the Middle East as he asked: "Why would you want to live this rubbish for?"

A cache of intercepted telephone calls, the audio of which has now been released for broadcast, offers a glimpse into the experiences and personality of the man believed to have recruited dozens of Australian men to fight in Syria.

The calls were presented as evidence during the trial of Hamdi Alqudsi, who was on Tuesday found guilty of aiding men to fight in Syria's brutal civil war, but they were not able to be played outside the court until after the jury had delivered its verdict.

In one phone call with Alqudsi, made in June 2013, Baryalei explains that a bullet came so close to him it made his ears ring and describes how he saw his "commander" die.

"We were on the road and he jumped and we were looking at him, as we were looking at him, as we were looking at him, we just saw the bullets go straight through him," Baryalei says in the call.

When asked how that made him feel, Baryalei replies: "I don't know man. I was confused. I was, at one bit, I started crying because I ... I just saw him. He was, like, giving, like you know, he was just taking breaths."

The same call ends with an emotional Baryalei struggling to find words.

"I don't want to be here man," he says. "I'm over it. I'm over it. Why would you wanna live this rubbish for? ... I don't know bro, it's the end, you know how they say, end of the world, bro, it's the end of the world."

Baryalei, a former Kings Cross bouncer and extra on Underbelly: The Golden Mile, was a leader in "Street Dawah" movement in which members proselytised on the streets of Sydney. He allegedly also conspired with a Sydney man to behead a random stranger.

He initially started fighting with the al-Qaeda-affiliated group Jabhat al-Nusra, but switched over to its rival, ISIS.

The calls provide a hint of his discontent with Jabhat al-Nusra, as Baryalei complains to Alqudsi of men smoking on the frontline, lacking religious commitment and not fighting well.

"You can't be with people like that, man," Alqudsi says.

"That's what I'm saying, man, as long as people like that are around, how are you meant to win though?" Baryalei says.

Less than two months after the conversation, Baryalei tells Alqudsi that he's "swapping over" to the "[Islamic] State".

"They gonna give us ... they're gonna give us our own um, the brother promised me, he said, 'Look, I'll give you your own headquarters.' Allah willing. So, brother there's plenty of room for you."

Baryalei is believed to have died in 2014.

The calls also shed new light on how Australia's wanna-be terrorists prepared for their trips to Syria, and their experiences crossing the border from Turkey into the war-torn country.

Alqudsi tells Amin Mohamed, who was found guilty of trying to go to Syria to fight after being stopped at Brisbane Airport in 2013, to SMS him saying "hamdullah", or thank god, when the doors on his flight were closed.

"What I want you to do, don't waste time. Don't waste time. I want you, from Melbourne, to book a ticket and go," Alqudsi tells him.

"OK perfect, perfect. When can we talk about the details of where we need to book it to? Do we need to book it to the Ottomans or elsewhere?" Mohamed replied.

"You can book it direct because you don't have a red flag on you, and the brothers don't have a red flag on them."

In another call, Alqudsi tells a crying man, identified only as Abu Dajana, that "you will be one of the first ones to go".

"I prefer for you to go than any of the brothers. I believe in you spiritually," Alqudsi says.

Hundreds of intercepted phone calls, text messages, WhatsApp and Skype conversations were presented as evidence during Alqudsi's trial.

Alqudsi, 41, who has been described as the "principal player" in the network sending men to Syria, is due to face a sentencing hearing next month.

/smh.com.au