Attempts to anticipate terrorist returnees: German woman who fought alongside ISIS arrested

Hani Daniel

German authorities continue to track those returning from the fighting alongside ISIS and other terrorist groups in the Middle East, with increased information sharing between European Union interior ministers regarding the availability of necessary information on suspects.

Most recently, a German woman, identified as Stephanie A., was suspected of having taken her son to the territories controlled by ISIS in Syria and then fighting alongside the terrorist organization. By examining and collecting information, it was found that she traveled to Syria in 2016 to join her husband, who was also fighting in the ranks of the terrorist organization.

The German prosecutor revealed that the son was killed in an airstrike in March 2018 and that Stephanie A. and her husband were arrested later. The woman was suspected of belonging to a foreign terrorist organization, and the prosecution also said that she joined ISIS after arriving with her husband and decided to train their son to use firearms in a training camp run by the group.

This comes after the United Nations previously urged member states to return more than 27,000 Syrian children stuck in a camp in the northwestern part of the country. UN Under-Secretary General for Counter Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov said that children living in Syria’s Al-Hol camp are in dire need of assistance because they face various risks, including extremism, as they are the children of ISIS militants who were killed or in prison.

Speaking at an informal meeting of the UN Security Council, Voronkov called on countries to return these children as quickly as possible, describing it as one of the most pressing issues in the world at the moment. According to the United Nations, Al-Hol camp houses more than 62,000 people, most of them women and children, who were displaced after the defeat of ISIS in 2019. Voronkov said that the responsibility for removing these children rests with the member states who have citizens in Syria, adding that children from 60 different nationalities are currently residing in the camp guarded by Kurdish forces.

On the other hand, there are international warnings that children and youth in the Al-Hol camp could join the ranks of terrorist groups, which poses a threat to their future.

Foreign reports quoted a 17-year-old woman as being shot four times after she denounced her ISIS-supportive mother to local authorities, as she was forced to marry at the age of 11 to a 24-year-old ISIS fighter, and she became a widow after only three months.

According to available figures, Al-Hol camp includes wives, widows, children, and family members of other ISIS militants. More than 80% of its 62,000 residents are women and children, and the majority of them are Iraqis and Syrians, although it also includes about 10,000 people from 57 other countries residing in a separate area, and many of them are still staunch supporters of ISIS.

Although nearly two years have passed since the US-led coalition seized the last piece of territory controlled by ISIS, ending the declared caliphate that covered large parts of Iraq and Syria, conditions are still poor, and the future is ambiguous as to whether foreign militants will be returned to their country of origin or be released, which means joining terrorist groups again.

Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesman Kino Gabriel said that the camp residents follow Islamic law and “have their own police,” while women educate children and youth. He warned that “if they are not dealt with properly, they will create the next generation of jihadists.”

According to UN reports, about 27,000 non-Syrian children are stranded in Al-Hol camp, including about 19,000 Iraqi children and 8,000 children from other countries.