Autonomous Administration hands over 12 ISIS women and 33 children to Germany and Netherlands

The Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria handed over an Islamic State woman and four children to Germany and eleven women and 33 children to the Netherlands.

The woman from Germany was arrested upon entering the country and is now in custody.

The Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria (AANES) has handed over twelve ISIS mercenaries and 37 children to Germany and the Netherlands.

German and Dutch representatives visited the AANES foreign affairs office in Northern Syria on Tuesday and thanked the Autonomous Administration for its cooperation. The women and children were previously housed in camps. One woman and four children were handed over to the German delegation and eleven women and 33 children to the Dutch delegation.

According to media reports, the ISIS returnee from Germany came from Offenbach and was arrested on entering Rhineland-Palatinate on Tuesday evening. A judge at the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt ordered the 31-year-old to be held in custody on Wednesday. According to the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office, she is "strongly suspected of being a member of a terrorist organization abroad". She is also accused of violating her duty of child care and education. The woman is said to have travelled to Pakistan with her husband and children in 2011, where her husband joined the "Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan" as a fighter. After the man's death in a drone attack, the woman is said to have travelled to Syria with her children to join the Islamic State. She is said to have accepted the dangers that threatened her children in the war zone. The woman is said to have married an ISIS fighter in Syria and worked in a so-called widow's office within the ISIS administration. She was arrested by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in early 2019 and is said to have been in a detention center with her children ever since.

So far 108 IS women and children have been returned to Germany

Since the last ISIS enclave, al-Baghouz, in north-eastern Syria, was defeated in spring 2019, the AANES has been demanding support for dealing with the interned ISIS supporters and in particular for the repatriation of foreign jihadists and their children. According to the Federal Foreign Office, the return campaign to Germany has ended for the time being. At the beginning of October, seven children, four women and one teenager were brought back to Germany. This means that a total of 27 women, 80 children and one teenager have been brought to Germany on seven different trips. According to the Federal Foreign Office, children can only be brought back with the consent and simultaneous return of the mothers. There are cases in which the mothers do not want to be repatriated.