Prison for Michigan man accused of wanting to fight in Syria

DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit-area man accused of trying to travel to the Middle East to fight in Syria’s civil war has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Mohammad Hamdan has been in custody for nearly three years and will get credit for that time. He was sentenced Wednesday, about four months after pleading guilty to making false statements to agents.

The government says the 24-year-old Hamdan wanted to join Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group in Lebanon that is classified by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.

He was arrested in 2014 prior to boarding a flight at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Hamdan is a native of Lebanon. He says he won’t oppose an effort to deport him there after his prison sentence.