REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, ROME -- Italian police arrested a Syrian man in the northern city of Genoa on Wednesday on suspicion he was planning to travel to his home country to join Islamist

militants.

Police said in a statement their anti-terrorism unit had arrested an unemployed man, 23, who they said was planning to return to Syria to join the rebel group Nusra Front. He was arrested on suspicion of supporting international terrorism.

The Syrian Islamist rebel group, which emerged at the start of the Syrian conflict, re-branded itself last week as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and cut ties with international jihadist network al Qaeda.

Nusra Front and Islamic State are enemies in Syria, but both were excluded from a US- and Russian-backed ceasefire this year.

Police said they were investigating the arrested man's relationship with other foreigners in the Genoa area to determine whether they were trying to recruit fighters.

They said there was no indication that attacks in Italy were being planned.

On Tuesday, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Italy had expelled a 26-year-old Pakistani man who they said supported Islamic State and was planning to go to Syria to join Islamist militants.