intrigue, his appointment to be a full member of the Syrian National Council was blocked almost as soon as it was to be formally confirmed. Since the start of the Syrian uprising, al-Yaqoubi has campaigned internationally to provide humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees. In December 2012, he led a convoy for the delivery of "vast quantities of food, baby food and blankets" to displaced Syrians in Turkey. Consequently, he fled the country after the Syrian regime tried to silence him after he publicly criticised the ruling Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, calling on the president to step down and supporting the Syrian uprising. He is currently in exile in Morocco, helping to deliver humanitarian aid, and is in regular contact with Syrian fighters who consult him on the moral and spiritual issues raised by their struggle. After his exile from Syria, he has taken part in a sustained international effort to provide aid for the Syrian people. He has publicly urged the international community to "implement help immediately" and to "lift the siege" on Syria in an interview with Sky News. In August 2013, al-Yaqoubi said he wants the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to open a register in which fighters, civilians and administrators can be organized and given an identification number. He also thinks there should be recruitment centers in major towns and cities in the Middle East to pre-empt individual efforts, where those who want to fight can be vetted and trained under the FSA 's supervision. In September 2014, al-Yaqoubi co-signed an open letter to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi saying "misinterpreted Islam into a religion of harshness, brutality, torture and murder" and refuting the ideological foundation of ISIS, banning Muslims from joining it and making it clear that this is non-Islamic, anti-Islam. In November 2014, he led prayers at the funeral of the American Peter Kassig. In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour he condemned the killing of Kassig by ISIL and said, "We have to speak loud and very clear that Muslims and Islam have nothing to do with this... ISIS has no nationality. Its nationality is terror, savagery, and hatred." In the same month in an interview with Margaret Warner on PBS NewsHour he said of al-Baghdadi, "He's against Islam. He's non-Muslim, according to the Muslim standards, because he's allowing people to kill Muslims, referring to the Book of