HURA, Israel (AP) — He was a quiet whiz kid at the top of his class in Israel, who overcame tough odds in this minority Arab village to become a star medical student and hospital intern. No one can quite explain what happened and why, but in his community in Israel's southern Negev desert, where many even serve in the Israeli army, his sudden transformation into a jihadi killed in Syria fighting for the Islamic State group is treated as a dark and dangerous mystery. In three years of war in Syria, dozens of educated and seemingly progressive Muslims from Western countries have been lured to what they perceive to be a heroic jihadi battle against President Bashar Assad. Israel's Shin Bet security service estimates that only about 30 Arabs have departed for Syria to take part in the fighting. Just a handful have joined IS — the extremist group notorious for its beheadings of foreign journalists and aid workers. Family members said they got an anonymous call in August saying that he had been killed in the first wave of American air raids against the Islamic State. Historically, the Bedouin in Israel have identified more closely with the Jewish state than other Arabs, and many serve in the military, where they have their own combat battalion and are highly respected as desert trackers. While some have expressed general support for the greater goal of an Islamic caliphate espoused by IS, there have been no signs of overt backing for the jihadis, said Suleiman Azbarga, a 29-year-old local businessman who studied with Abu Al-Qiyan in Jordan.