page_title: Operation Arabian Knight
section_title: Possible influences
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Arabian Knight / Possible influences
caption_attribution_description: العربية: أنور العولقي English: Imam Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen October 2008, taken by Muhammad ud-Deen.
context_page_description: On June 5, 2010, in a covert American anti-terrorism operation named "Operation Arabian Knight", two American citizens Mohamed Mahmood Alessa and Carlos "Omar" Eduardo Almonte, New Jersey residents, were arrested at Kennedy International Airport in New York City. The men were in the process of boarding booked, separate flights to Egypt. According to the affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, they planned to travel to Somalia to join Al-Shabab, an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group recruiting foreigners for its civil war. They intended to join them in killing American troops in Somalia, although few Americans are stationed there. The two men were charged with conspiring to kill, maim, and kidnap people outside the U.S.
  The arrests followed that of the American Faisal Shahzad, characterized as a home-grown terrorist and charged in the failed Times Square bombing.
  The two men were denied bail, and a preliminary hearing was set for June 21 on the federal charges. On October 18, 2010, a federal judge gave their lawyers time to "attempt to finalize a plea agreement."
context_section_description: Authorities said the two New Jersey men had been followers of the American-born cleric, Anwar Al-Awlaki, known for increasing radicalism after 2006.  The men were known to have watched video and audio recordings promoting violent jihad, including lectures by al-Awlaki, who is suspected of inciting Muslims to violence.  Almonte reportedly kept an audio recording of al-Awlaki on his cell phone, in which al-Awlaki lectured about jihad and different types of martyrs, watched a jihadist video in which al-Awlaki justified the killing of civilians in jihad, and shared with others a pamphlet on jihad by al-Awlaki.
  Al-Awlaki has praised the group, al-Shabab. Authorities said the two men were among a number of U.S. terrorism suspects inspired by al-Awlaki. He is believed to have helped inspire the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, the failed 2009 Christmas Day bombing, the failed 2010 Times Square bombing, and those convicted in the 2007 Fort Dix plot.
caption: Anwar al-Awlaki, 2008
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