Jury out in Syria recruiter trial

A jury has retired to consider the verdict of a Sydney man accused of helping make arrangements for seven men to travel to Syria to fight.

Hamdi Alqudsi, 42, is facing seven counts of providing services with the intention of supporting hostile acts in Syria between June and October 2013.

His Supreme Court trial has heard a large volume of intercepted calls in which he talks to the alleged recruits and other men in the war-torn country about flights, travel routes, the honours of martyrdom and the "mujahideen".

The court heard numerous discussions between him and well-known Australian commander Mohammad Ali Baryalei, including one in which the jihadist talks about changing allegiances to The (Islamic) State.

Alqudsi's defence barrister, Scott Corish, has suggested his client could have thought the men were going to Syria for humanitarian reasons, and questioned whether discussing money exchanges and accommodation was providing a service.

He said his client had tried to arrange $10,000 to smuggle 20 families from Aleppo to Gaziantep, in southern Turkey, before expected bombing raids by the Syrian government and associated forces.

"We are trying to save as many people as possible," the 42-year-old said in one conversation intercepted in September 2013, Mr Corish told the court.

"Is that engaging in hostilities?" he asked the jury.

Pictures of men holding guns, ASIO information about a cancelled passport and Jihadi literature were found at the Revesby and St Helens Park homes Alqudsi shared with his wives.

In his closing address, prosecutor David Staehli SC played a conversation in which Mr Baryalei described seeing men killed before his eyes and tanks being blown up during a battle.

"Mr Alqudsi knew what was going on was Abu Omar (Mr Baryalei) was engaging in the civil war in Syria," he said.

"Our position is (there is) absolutely no way you would find it open to you that those calls (with Mr Baryalei) suggest anything about a humanitarian purpose."