Despite wanting to be released to Hebron where his fiancé Nida Abu Sneina resides, Hamis Ahmed, the Syrian-Palestinian terrorist who attempted to carry out a terror attack at a Golan Heights IDF base in 2005, was expelled to Syria upon his release Sunday.
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Ahmed was released four years early, together with drug smuggler Zidan Taweel, as a goodwill gesture following the return of the remains of Zachary Baumel who was missing since 1982, with the assistance of the Russians, staunch allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Ahmed's fiancé Abu Sneina told Ynet that her family was under the impression that Ahmed would be released to Hebron and only on Sunday did she hear that he had already been transferred to Syria.
"The reason that he requested to be sent to Hebron is because we are engaged and I live here," Abui Sneina explained. "He is a Palestinian and he has no family in Syria; both his parents died and he is an only child."
Anticipating his arrival, her family in Hebron had already prepared a welcome celebration for Ahmed. "On the one hand I am glad that he is out of prison, but I am disappointed that he is there (Syria) and not here," Abu Sneina said. "I am now waiting for him to contact me from there." She added that she plans to travel to Syria after Ramadan to marry him there.
Ahmed, 35, is a Fatah operative who lived in the Yarmuk Refugee Camp in Syria. He was trained in terror tactics there and was apprehended in 2005 while attempting to attack an IDF base in the Golan.
Ahmed had spent time observing the Israeli border vicinity before infiltrating via a hole he had dug, armed with a weapon, a face mask and a sweater with the Palestinian flag on it.
Upon entering the base, he attempted to disarm an officer and take his weapon, but the latter was able to overpower him. Ahmed was initially sentenced to 18 years in prison and has been exiled to Syria via the Quneitra Crossing.