"On July 26, Ahmed Mahad Mohamed and Abdi Yemani Hussein, were arrested for conspiring to provide material support and resources to ISIS [Daesh], a designated foreign terrorist organization," the department said in a press release on Monday.
"Ultimately, the defendants purchased airline tickets to travel to Egypt, with the intention to travel on to Sinai and join ISIS [Daesh]."
FBI agents arrested Mohamed and Hussein after they checked in for their flight at the Tucson International Airport in Arizona, the Justice Department added.
According to court documents, both defendants came to the United States as refugees from Somalia.
The defendants had been in communication with an FBI undercover employee whom they believed was a supporter of Daesh ideology and planned to travel overseas to fight for Daesh or to conduct an attack within the United States, the Justice Department said.
Islamist insurgents have long been targeting security forces in the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt has been conducting a massive security operation in North Sinai for over a year to weed out armed groups, killing and arresting hundreds of militants.
*Daesh (Islamic State, ISIS, ISIL, IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.