A British convert may have found himself at the heart of Syria’s rebel ruling power after impressing leaders with his communications skills.
Lucas Kinney, from Surrey, became a key player in extremist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham after proving his worth on social media in a hard-hitting social media campaign.
Kinney gained extra fame through his online videos because he not only carried an AK-47 over his shoulder, but also a toothbrush among the ammunition. Viewers joked ‘don’t forget your toothbrush’.
He was the first white British convert known to have joined jihad in Syria, the only one in the now triumphant group.
But there is some doubt over whether he survived the brutal fighting and his parents at home in London last night refused to comment on his whereabouts.
Kinney was born in Hammersmith, west London, the son of American Patrick Kinney, now 68 and living in Florida, and British mother Deborah, now 62.
Patrick worked with Steven Spielberg on films such as Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade and Empire of the Sun.
A British convert may have found himself at the heart of Syria’s rebel ruling power after impressing leaders with his communications skills. Lucas Kinney (pictured here at age 13) became a key player for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
Kinney gained additional fame through his online videos because he not only carried an AK-47 over his shoulder, but also had a toothbrush
Kinney’s parents divorced while he was at a Catholic primary school in Surrey, and his mother, now Deborah Phipps, lives with her second husband in the West Country. This image is from Kinney’s old social media account
Kinney’s parents divorced while he was at a Catholic primary school in Surrey, and his mother, now Deborah Phipps, lives with her second husband in the West Country.
Kinney received Holy Communion as a teenage Catholic and talked about becoming a priest while attending private school.
But he started going to a mosque and then traveled to the Middle East to take on dictator Bashar al-Assad with a Kalashnikov, bragging about it in propaganda videos.
The group he joined in 2013 was an offshoot of Osama bin Laden’s feared Al Qaeda, the Nusra Front.
It changed its name to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – which triumphantly entered Damascus on Sunday as the hated Assad fled.
Kinney’s stepfather, who lives in a honeyed stone cottage in the west of the country, declined to talk to the Daily Mail about the jihadist convert.
But Kinney – who had adopted the nom de guerre Abu Basir al-Britani – last lived in rural Idlib province, northwestern Syria, in 2018 with a wife and two children. If he’s still alive, he’ll be 35.
Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2015, Ms Phipps spoke of her fears that he could be killed by an RAF drone strike or a Russian bombing, saying: ‘Lucas is a target. I’m glad he has ties to Al Qaeda and not Islamic State, but of course I’m concerned.
The group Kinney joined in 2013 was an offshoot of Osama bin Laden’s feared Al Qaeda, the Nusra Front. It changed its name to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
Kinney – who had adopted the nom de guerre Abu Basir al-Britani – last lived in rural Idlib province, northwestern Syria, in 2018 with a wife and two children. If he’s still alive, he’s 35. This image is another still from a propaganda video
‘Last year on Mother’s Day I spoke to his father and he told me that he thought our son was dead because there was a picture of him on the internet lying on a bed in Syria and you couldn’t see if he was still alive.
“We discovered he had been hit by a mortar so his arm was basically hanging off. He had to have major surgery and said he wouldn’t be able to fight for 18 months.”
She continued: ‘I don’t get anything for months, then an email and think, ‘Well, at least he’s still alive.’
“We just want him home. If he did something wrong, I would like him to accept the consequences.”
After attending a Catholic primary school in Surrey, Kinney lived in Cairo, where his stepfather worked and attended the elite private Modern English School.
He grew his hair long, dyed it red, played electric guitar in a rock band called Hannah’s Got Herpes – and posted photos of scantily clad girls on Facebook.
Kinney took up Middle Eastern Studies with Arabic at the University of Leeds in 2009, but dropped out after a year.
He went to live with his father in Vienna and seems to have been radicalized there.
Kinney (pictured left) during his school days in Cairo. He grew his hair long, dyed it red and played electric guitar in a series of rock bands
Lucas’ old social media account featured a photo of him proudly posing outside a sex shop in Cairo
Ms Phipps said: ‘I don’t think he got involved with Islam at university. He liked drinking and smoking and girls, all the things they can’t do.
‘When Lucas went to Vienna, everything changed.
‘We chatted on Skype so we could see him; he had a beard and a robe.
‘His father said, “His religion is very important to him.”
Then suddenly Mrs. Phipps heard from her son in Syria, about his emails: ‘He kept using Quranic phrases and wants everyone to convert. Special Branch has of course made contact.’
In 2016, Kinney considered volunteering for a suicide mission, telling a Western journalist, “My dream is to carry out a martyrdom operation.” God willing.”
However, two years later he would still be in Idlib, but with his wife and two children. There were so many Brits there and Jaffa Cakes, Maltesers, Smarties and Rolos were in the shops.
Whether they kept him alive for the victory he sacrificed his life for in the West remains to be seen.