Isaac El Matari called himself "Commander of IS in Australia." Also "General Commander of the Sydney region." Born March 1999. Arrested July 2, 2019 at his Greenacre home. Convicted of terrorism preparation and foreign incursion offences. Justice Garling sentenced him to 7 years 4 months in R v El Matari [2021] NSWSC 1260. Non-parole period 5 years 6 months. Eligible for parole January 2025.

El Matari encountered radical beliefs at 15 or 16. By 18, in September 2017, he was arrested in Tripoli, Lebanon. Trying to reach ISIS in Syria. Lebanese authorities gave him nine months. Prison didn't deter him. According to his own account in the judgment, he gained "significant exposure to, and contact with, IS members and sympathisers." He returned to Australia in June 2018 and picked up where he left off. Between January and July 2019 he prepared to travel to Khorasan Province, Afghanistan via Pakistan. Obtained a passport. Pakistan visa. Booked flights for June 10, 2019. Bought a tactical vest and traditional Pakistani clothing.

Surveillance captured his vision. May 2, 2019, talking to an associate the court designated "G." El Matari described plans for an ISIS insurgency in Australia modelled on Marawi, Philippines: "So that the brothers would start a STATE out in the bush here like the boys in Marawi did." He claimed he'd used encrypted communications with contacts in Lebanon to arrange weapons importation. Talked about training with "a brother that used to be part of the Tongan Special Forces." Wanted to contact "Muslim brothers in Indonesia" for a three-way deal with Lebanon—firearms into Australia.

El Matari claimed there were "at least a thousand boys of DAWLA State" in Australia. ISIS supporters. But in recorded conversations he complained they were "cowards and not truly committed." Nobody would back his plans. He talked about targeting public institutions, military barracks, places with "little or no security." Make people scared. Convey the message. His models were the Marawi siege—ISIS-aligned fighters held a Philippine city for five months in 2017—and operations in the Caucasus. The goal: "a small enclosed battalion to exploit the landscape" in rural Australia.

Arrest didn't stop him. From the High Risk Management Correctional Centre, El Matari kept recruiting. September 20, 2019, police found a three-page letter he'd written to fellow inmate Tukiterangi Lawrence. Insurgency doctrine, detailed: "The establishment of a small enclosed battalion to exploit the landscape, taking to remote regional areas to plan the orchestration of attacks, whilst cells living amongst the civilian population finance, recruit and resupply the mujahideen through strict, well regulated agreed upon protocols to avoid arousing the suspicion of the authorities." He cited successes by "brothers in the Philippines" and "brothers in the Caucasus."

May 2020. Six months after arrest. Police searched the facility again and seized three letters El Matari had sent to Youssef Uweinat. He addressed Uweinat as "Abu Musa al-Maqdisi." Both Lawrence and Uweinat would later get their own terrorism convictions. El Matari appears on multiple prohibited contact lists—Radwan Dakkak, Halis Biber, other convicted terrorists. Central node in the Sydney ISIS network.

El Matari's July 2, 2019 arrest triggered ASIO's investigation of Naveed Akram three months later. ABC News confirmed after the attack that Akram was "close" to El Matari. Close enough that ASIO opened a six-month investigation. It concluded in March 2020: "no indication of any ongoing threat." The nature of their relationship hasn't been detailed in public court documents. But the connection was real enough to warrant an ASIO file.

Justice Garling called El Matari's terrorism offence "towards the lower end of the range." Reason: "he did a lot of talking and took little action" with "only the most generalised of plans" and "no weapons." The foreign incursion offence rated higher—"at or just below the mid-range"—given his concrete preparations for Afghanistan. Forensic psychologist Chelsey Dewson assessed him as high risk for violent extremism. She predicted he'd "most likely involve scenarios of making further attempts to join IS internationally." But she couldn't rule out domestic attacks. Earliest parole: January 2025.

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