ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - In an exclusive interview with Kurdistan24 on Tuesday, Mohamad Jamal Khweis, an American-Palestinian Islamic State (IS) fighter revealed his story of joining the extremist group. 
 
 Khweis is a 26-year-old US citizen from the State of Virginia, where he completed high school and received a degree in Criminal Justice from a college. On Monday, he surrendered himself to Kurdish Peshmerga forces near the city of Sinjar (Shingal) in northern Iraq. Khweis' parents moved from the Palestinian Territories to the United States about “27-28 years ago.” 
 
 “I attended a mosque in America, but not that often…I left the States in the middle of December 2015 and went to Europe. I first went to the UK," Khweis said 
 
 From London, he moved to Amsterdam and then to Turkey where he met an Iraqi woman whose sister was married to an IS fighter. The pair found contacts who took them to Syria and then to Mosul. “First, we took a bus from Istanbul to Gaziantep…From there, a driver picked us up and took us to the border and then [we went] from Syria to Iraq.” 
 
 “I don’t know the exact places we passed by, but [we arrived] in Mosul on January 16,” Khweis said. 
 
 In the IS-controlled territories, the recruit was stripped of his identification cards and was given the nickname "Abu Omar." He then lived with 70 foreign fighters in one house until he was transported to Mosul. 
 
 In the new location, he would spend most of his day in religion classes. "Our daily life was basically prayer, eating, and learning about the religion for about eight hours." 
 
 But the lessons the Imam preached did not seem acceptable to Khweis. "I didn't complete the whole Sharia [Islamic Law]. I didn't agree with their ideology. That's when I wanted to escape." 
 
 The American fighter also explained that the living conditions in Mosul were very difficult. “It is not like Western countries. It is very strict and no smoking there. There are a lot of foreign fighters walking around with weapons, and many are from Central and South Asia," he said. 
 
 Reflecting on his time in Mosul, he stated, “I stayed there about a month, and I found it very, very hard to live there. I decided to return home [US],” he continued. “I found someone who could take me back to Turkey. First, he said he could help me, but then he said it will be difficult to take me all the way to Turkey. He told me he will take me close to Turkey’s border.” 
 
 Khweis then decided to cross the Kurdish frontlines and contact the Peshmerga forces. 
 
 “I made a bad decision to go...to Mosul. At the time I made the decision, I was not thinking straight. On the way there, I regretted. I wanted to go back home. After things didn’t work out and I couldn't see myself living in such an environment,” he added. 
 
 "I wanted to go to the Kurds' side because I know that they are good with the Americans. And I decided to make my journey to go and meet with the Kurds. And when I met with the Kurds, they treated me very well. And I am happy I made that decision," he said. 
 
 He concluded by addressing people of the United States. “My message to the American people is that life in Mosul is really very bad. The people who control Mosul don’t represent a religion. Daesh [IS] does not represent a religion. I don’t see them as good Muslims.” 
 
 
 
 Reporting by Goran Shakhawan and Mewan Dolamari 
 
 Editing by Benjamin Kweskin and Ava Homa ||||| A young American man accused of fighting for ISIS said it was a "bad decision" to go to Iraq and that he was trying to get home when he was captured by Kurdish forces earlier this week. 
 
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 Speaking to the Kurdish news outlet K24, the man identified by Kurdish officials as 26-year-old Mohamad Jamal Khweis of Virginia, said he ended up in Mosul, a large ISIS-controlled city in Iraq, after meeting a woman. 
 
 “At the time I made the decision, I was not thinking straight. On the way there I regretted, and I wanted to go back home after things didn’t work out and saw myself living in such an environment," he said. Khweis said conditions in Mosul are "very difficult." 
 
 "I stayed there about a month, and I found it very, very hard to live there. I decided to return back home,” he said. According to Khweis, he regretted "going off with Daesh," an alternate term for ISIS, and was trying to make contact with Kurdish forces when he was captured Monday. 
 
 Khweis said he attended a mosque in the U.S. “but not that frequently." As for how he got to ISIS-controlled territory, Khweis said he left the U.S. in December and went to Europe. "I first went to the London. I stayed there not that long. From there, I moved to Amsterdam, where I stayed about a week.” 
 
 Later, Khweis went to Turkey and there he met an Iraqi girl. He stayed there for some time, he said. “We spent some time together, and she said that she is from Mosul, Iraq. I don’t know the exact places we passed by, but we arrived in Mosul on January 16," he said. 
 
 At the end of the interview, Khweis addressed the American people directly and said, "Life in Mosul is really, very bad. The people who control Mosul don't represent a religion." 
 
 A video posted on social media Monday appeared to show the young man’s surrender. In it, he tells Kurdish military officials he is American. Earlier this week Kurdish officials said the 26-year-old had been among a small group of ISIS fighters with whom they exchanged fire a day before the surrender. 
 
 U.S. government officials for the most part declined to comment on the development Monday, beyond acknowledging media reports. Late Monday a U.S. counter-terrorism official told ABC News the young man had not been on the radar of American security or intelligence agencies. U.S. officials have said they suspect some 250 Americans have traveled to, or have attempted to travel to Iraq or Syria to join extremists groups. 
 
 Reached by telephone Monday, a woman who identified herself as the mother of Mohamad Jamal Khweis told ABC News she had seen the news reports but later declined to watch the video. She said she had last seen her son a couple months ago and said she was shocked by the idea he was in Iraq. 
 
 With television cameras outside the Virginia home Monday, two men, apparently Khweis’ father and younger brother, arrived and the older man struck some of the cameras. Both yelled at the media present, the younger man shouting, “You’re wrong, you’re wrong.” At one point the father sprayed the cameramen with a water hose shortly before police arrived. 
 
 “This has nothing to do with you guys,” the older man said a few minutes later, addressing reporters outside. “I ask you to leave please, and I have not any information… I don’t know what you guys bring this information, okay? And I guess you bringing the wrong information. This is not the right name for my son... This is wrong, this is not my son, the information you’ve given me, I don’t know where my real son is at.” 
 
 Court records for Mohammad Jamal Khweiss show several minor traffic offenses as well as a public drunkenness charge in 2009. That charge was later downgraded to a version of trespassing and dismissed on appeal. 
 
 Fairfax County Police Department 
 
 ABC News' Rhonda Schwartz, Michael Birnkrant and Lee Ferran contributed to this report. ||||| Story highlights Mohamad Jamal Khweis, from Virginia, had gotten into Syria via Turkey in late 2015, Kurds say 
 
 He's being held and questioned by Kurdish authorities, who are talking to their "U.S. counterparts" 
 
 Reports indicate the captured American may have been an ISIS fighter, a State Department official says 
 
 (CNN) Kurdish authorities on Wednesday identified the American man -- 26-year-old Mohamad Jamal Khweis -- captured two days earlier leaving ISIS-controlled territory in northern Iraq. 
 
 The Virginia resident traveled from Syria through several European countries and ultimately Turkey last December with a young Iraqi woman, the Kurdistan Regional Security Council said in a statement. He ended up in Iraq the next month and "later fled, he claims, to return home," the Kurdish agency added. 
 
 Kurdish Peshmerga forces apprehended Khweis on Monday near Sinjar "for attempting to enter the Kurdistan region from the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul." 
 
 "We are in dialogue with our U.S. counterparts and authorities about the individual and case," the Kurdish council said. "He is in the Kurdistan region being questioned by relevant security authorities and is provided the care afforded to him under international and local law." 
 
 Earlier this week, a U.S. official said that a man walked out of ISIS-held territory and approached troops in the same area. ||||| ERBIL, Iraq -- CBS News has learned the American who defected from ISIS and surrendered to Kurdish forces had left the D.C. area in mid-December. 
 
 Three months with ISIS was enough for him. 
 
 There was a single moment caught one camera when Kurdish soldiers found out they detained an American. The American tells the Kurds he's from the United States. 
 
 Minutes earlier, the Kurds had grabbed Mohamed Jamal Khweis, when he walked out of the scrub-land at dawn -- and right into their front line. 
 
 In broken Arabic and English, he told them he wanted to surrender. 
 
 One of the Kurds who arrested him -- but didn't want his face shown -- said Khweis confirmed he'd been fighting for ISIS. 
 
 And how did they make sure it wasn't a suicide bomber -- that he had no explosives on him? 
 
 "We got him to lift his shirt and drop his pants to prove it," one of the Kurds told CBS News. 
 
 That's standard procedure all along the Kurdish front lines. Anyone crossing has to strip to show they're not wearing bombs. 
 
 Twenty-six-year-old Mohamed Jamal Khweis had his Virginia driver's license with him, two credit cards and three cell phones -- along with about $4,000. 
 
 Khweis gave himself up at the village of Golat near Tal Afar, but the Kurds said it was a mistake. He had been aiming for the Turkish border, but was double-crossed by the smuggler hired to take him. 
 
 Back in Virginia, reporters showed up at the family home to ask questions, but a scene that started out merely chaotic, turned hostile when Khweis' father turned a water hose on them. 
 
 CBS News 
 
 Khweis's parents say they had lost touch with their son and have no idea how he ended up where he is -- in the custody of Kurdish Intelligence. 
 
 It's not clear how long until he returns to the U.S. But the Department of Justice is already planning to file charges against him.
– The accused ISIS defector from Virginia says he made a "bad decision" and now regrets his actions. In an interview with K24 TV, Mohamad Jamal Khweis, 26, says he left the US in December, visited London and Amsterdam, then arrived in Turkey, where he met a woman from Mosul, Iraq, who said she could take him there, per ABC News. "So I decided to go with her," he says. "I was not thinking straight." They took a bus to the Turkish border, then a taxi into Syria. On Jan. 16, another bus brought Khweis to Mosul. There, "our daily life was prayer, eating, and learning about the religion for eight hours," he says, per NBC News, which describes the interview as "heavily edited" and notes he made no mention of "combat activities." "I didn't agree with their ideology and that's when I wanted to escape." Kurdish forces say Khweis was among a group of fighters they exchanged fire with on Sunday and was captured on Monday near Sinjar "for attempting to enter the Kurdistan region," per CNN. Khweis says he was trying to contact Kurdish forces. "I wanted to go back to America," he says, adding he didn't view ISIS fighters as "good Muslims. ... The people who control Mosul don't represent a religion." The US Justice Department is planning to press charges, reports CBS News. A University of Texas School of Law professor suspects Khweis will likely be a "huge priority for intelligence collection," per the Daily Beast. Khweis' mother says she last saw her son a couple of months ago and had no idea he was in Iraq. Khweis' father, a Palestinian immigrant, turned a water hose on reporters outside his Virginia home on Monday, while a brother yelled, "You're wrong, you're wrong."