Former Islamic State militants captured by Kurdish forces in Northern Syria told CNN correspondent Ivan Watson that IS (ISIL or ISIS) leaders drugged and brainwashed them to fight for “Islam and justice.”

The first prisoner, identified as Suleiman, told Watson he received $3,600 to detonate a car bomb outside a Kurdish military base.

“They said they were fighting for Islam and justice. They were lying to us,” Suleiman said. “They took advantage of our minds and our poverty.”

The next prisoner was a 19-year-old named Kareem, who fought for IS in Syria for more than a year.

The 28-year-old former US soldier who joined a Kurdish militia to fight against militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) is urging more military veterans to join the fight. Through his own profile and with the launch of a new Facebook page called "The Lions of Rojava," Jordan Matson is helping to recruit others across Europe, Australia, and the US, according to The Daily Mail. "We will pick you up on your arrival to the location they gave you to come," Matson wrote in a Facebook posting on Oct. 23. "It is a secured journey all through Kurdish held territory. Hope to see you soon brothers. Rock steady."

A native of Wisconsin, Matson served in the US Army for two years — though never in combat — and is one of at least three Americans who have joined Kurdish forces, according to Reuters. He was wounded by a mortar soon after he arrived in Syria.