• • Families of alleged ISIS honeymooners stunned
• • Honeymoon in hell: ISIS creates its own Niagara Falls

JACKSON, Mississippi - The would-be blushing bride and groom sat in a Mississippi courtroom Tuesday, side-by-side, facing charges that they tried to join the world's most notorious terrorist organization.

Criminal charges filed Saturday say Jaelyn Delshaun Young, 20, and Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla, 22, were arrested that morning at a regional airport near Columbus, Mississippi, allegedly on their way to join jihad.

Officials say the couple were trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS.) And they claim it was the 19-year-old Young who was the mastermind behind the plot to do so, which involved getting married and pretending to be on a honeymoon to get there, reports CBS affiliate WJTV in Jackson.

Both are officially charged with attempting and conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist group. An affidavit by an FBI agent says both confessed their plans after their arrest.

At a second hearing Tuesday in the case in Federal Court in Oxford before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Allan Alexander, it was unveiled that on social media sites, Young expressed her happiness about the recent shooting in Chattanooga where five service members were killed, reports WJTV.

Judge Alexander denied them bail, saying that even though the pair have never been in trouble with the law and have relatives willing to oversee their home confinement, their desire commit terrorism is "probably still there."

Urging the court to keep the suspects in custody, Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner likened them to Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, saying that like him, they could commit violence with knives, vehicles or homemade weapons.

"They don't need a gun to do harm," Joyner said. "They don't need military training to do harm. What they need is a violent, extremist ideology, and that's exactly what they have espoused."

FBI agents arrested them at a Mississippi airport, filing criminal charges that both were attempting and conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist group, a federal crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

The court papers say both Young and Dakhlalla are U.S. citizens. Mississippi State University spokesman Sid Salter said records show Dakhlalla graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in psychology. Salter said Young was enrolled until May as a sophomore chemistry major but had not enrolled for classes since.

Dakhlalla's relatives are "absolutely stunned" by the arrest and have been cooperating with the FBI, said Dennis Harmon, an attorney representing the family.

Dakhlalla is the youngest of three sons and was preparing to start grad school at Mississippi State University, Harmon said. The attorney also said the man's father, Oda H. Dakhlalla, is imam of the Islamic Center of Mississippi in Starkville.

WJTV reports Young is the daughter of a Vicksburg police officer.

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May 26, 2015

BEIRUT - The honeymoon was a brief moment for love, away from the front lines of Syria's war. In the capital of the Islamic State group's self-proclaimed "caliphate," Syrian fighter Abu Bilal al-Homsi was united with his Tunisian bride for the first time after months chatting online. They married, then passed the days dining on grilled meats in Raqqa's restaurants, strolling along the Euphrates River and eating ice cream.

It was all made possible by the marriage bonus he received from the Islamic State group: $1,500 for him and his wife to get started on a new home, a family - and a honeymoon.

"It has everything one would want for a wedding," al-Homsi said of Raqqa - a riverside provincial capital that in the 18 months since IS took control has seen militants beheading opponents and stoning alleged adulteresses in public. Gunmen at checkpoints scrutinize passers-by for signs of anything they see as a violation of Shariah, or Islamic law, as slight as a hint of hair gel. In the homes of some of the IS commanders in the city are women and girls from the Yazidi religious sect, abducted in Iraq and now kept as sex slaves.

The Islamic State group is notorious for the atrocities it committed as it overran much of Syria and neighboring Iraq. But to its supporters, it is engaged in an ambitious project: building a new nation ruled by what radicals see as "God's law," made up of Muslims from around the world whose old nationalities have been erased and who have been united in the "caliphate."

To do that, the group has set up a generous welfare system to help settle and create lives for the thousands of jihadis - men and women - who have flocked to IS territory from the Arab world, Europe, Central Asia and the United States.

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Speaking to AP via Skype, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) fighter Abu Bilal al-Homsi talked about the perks he receives from the extremist group.

Homsi is given an allowance for his uniform and clothes, and some household cleaning supplies, as well as a monthly food basket worth $65. In addition, he and his wife each receive a stipend of around $50 each per month.

The group encourages its fighters to have children, offering a bonus of up to $400 per child. Foreign fighters are also given a one-time sum of $500 when they marry, which is aimed at helping them start a family.

There's an opportunity for even more cash, but it requires marrying someone with desirable skills.

Homsi, 28, told AP that he received a rather large bonus because his new wife is a doctor and speaks four languages.

Praising his city and the IS, Homsi shared the story of his wedding and honeymoon, both of which took place in the IS stronghold of Raqqa.

Though the city may not seem like an obvious place to say 'I do', he insists it has everything two lovebirds could possibly want.

After Homsi and his wife were married, the two of them strolled along the Euphrates River, ate grilled meats, and enjoyed ice cream.

It's not the first time that IS has tried to tempt people into the 'benefits' of living in the so-called caliphate.