The United States has arrested a former army soldier from Phoenix who was fighting with Nusra Front against the Syrian government.

The United States has arrested a former army soldier from Phoenix who was fighting with Nusra Front against the Syrian government.

Eric Harroun, 30, was arrested Wednesday in Virginia and could face life in prison. He was charged Thursday with fighting alongside a terrorist group.

Harroun served in the United States Army from 2000 to 2003, when he left the army on full disability pay after a truck accident.

He is accused of entering Syria in January and participating in attacks on Assad forces led by the Nusra Front, which American officials say is part of Al Qaeda in Iraq, a designated terrorist group.

The former American soldier was charged with conspiring to use a rocket-propelled grenade while fighting with the Nusra.

Harroun, who was in Syria or Turkey when he spoke to Fox News by Skype, was nabbed shortly after flying in to Dulles International Airport after a voluntary interview with FBI agents, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.

He told the Fox News in a repo on March 11 that he considers himself a Muslim freedom fighter fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.