Death cult IS is winning propaganda war in Western Sydney, terrorism professor says Australians are continuing to join the IS campaign overseas, including Sydney teenager Abdullah Elmir. THE distraught mother of four western Sydney brothers who snuck out of Australia to join the IS campaign has made an emotional plea for their return. The Australian-born brothers, one who was still at school, told their parents they were going on holiday in Thailand with their mother driving them to the airport. The siblings plotted their mission while living at home with their Lebanese-born mother, taxidriver father and a teenage sister. A fifth brother recently moved out of home after getting married. After scouring their Sydney home for clues to their recruiters after being alerted to their disappearance early last week, authorities are searching for the boys in Turkey amid hopes they have not yet crossed the border into Syria. "My sons you are dear to us," she said. You are good at heart. You have done nothing wrong so please come back, we want you back. I can't stop crying day and night. We love you all. The plea comes amid calls for a change of tact in the fight against IS, with terrorism experts claiming the extreme condemnation approach adopted by Australia and other western nations was playing into the hands of recruiters. Professor Greg Barton from the Monash University Global Terrorism Research Centre said impressionable Muslim youth were being seduced by an effective campaign by IS which focused on the fulfilment of religious duty. Mohamed Elomar fled overseas to join the Islamic State campaign. The campaign, rolled out on social media, via professional videos and the English-language Islamic State magazine Dabiq, spoke of how those against an Islamic State would rise up but how Muslims would prevail so long as they joined the faithful in the fight, he said. "There is an element of "this is what we have been waiting for" and this is a very exciting message to a teenager or 20-something," Prof Barton said. There is a very strong emphasis on religious mission and joining together with the faithful and the IS media arm is devoting a lot of resources to spread this message to young people, especially through social media, a message that is saying - you have to come join us, you can't fulfil this mission at home in Sydney. "We look at videos of teenagers like jihadist Abdullah Elmir and think "how sad," but to young people, it all looks exciting." Prof Barton said the condemnation of IS by authorities could be interpreted by some young people as "anti-Muslim," thereby making them more vulnerable to IS recruitment. Countering the IS campaign by supporting young Muslims to roll out their own anti-IS campaigns would be a more effective approach, he said. Islamic community leader Dr Jamal Rifi knows the brothers who just fled overseas. Muslim leader Dr Jamal Rifi said he knew the four boys, whom he said were not "extremists." Dr Rifi said he believed the boys, one or all, were groomed by a recruiter outside the family. "They never exhibited any radical ideology or tendencies towards extremism - they were cleanskins," he said. They obviously had contact with outside networks who helped them before their departure and instructed them on what they need to do. They are ordinary boys who have obviously been taken advantage of - the youngest one still went to school and recently got a principal's award. Two counterterrorism police officers visited the home three days ago to speak with the family, while trying to find clues as to how four boys could flee the country. Originally published as Death cult winning propaganda war