Thread by @bjoernstritzel

German government has just repatriated three women from Camp Roj. First time German government has actively brought back German ISIS members from YPG detention: m.bild.de/bild-plus/poli…

Among the three women is Leonora M. from Sangerhausen. She joined ISIS as a teenager five years ago, married Martin Lemke, a member of ISIS Amniyat.

https://twitter.com/bjoernstritzel/status/1091332931572895744

Second woman is Merve A. from Hamburg who joined ISIS in 2014. After her husband Bilal Z. was killed, she fled with their two children to YPG area. Both children are sick, which was likely one of the reasons to repatriate her.

Third woman is Yasmin A. from Bonn, who was critically ill as well. She went to Syria in 2015, following her brother Yamin. Together with Austrian Mohamed Mahmoud he murdered two captives in Palmyra before he died in 2017.

The children of those three women and a few orphans were repatriated as well. Around 70 former German ISIS members and 150 children remain in the camps and prisons in NES. Since last year, almost two dozen Germans escaped of which ten already returned to Germany.

In August 2019 German government repatriated three orphans from Camp Hol. After I wrote about one of them - an orphaned boy whose relatives were unknown - his grandmother in Germany recognized him. His uncle even went to Syria and met him in Hol. m.bild.de/politik/auslan…

Fourth rescued kid in this group was a baby suffering from Hydrocephalus: m.bild.de/politik/auslan…

While all those were minors, German government was kinda involved in repatriation of a female German ISIS member a few weeks later, though US played a key role here as Laura H. was taking care of an American child. m.bild.de/bild-plus/poli…

The repatriation of three German ISIS women today is thus significant, as it’s different to prior repatriations, albeit not a real policy change: There are still several more severe humanitarian cases, especially among the children.

Here is the convoy from Syria to Erbil: More than a dozen cars brought the three women and twelve kids straight to the airport (with a short stop at a restaurant):

Statement from German FM Maas about the repatriation. While it’s true that it took massive efforts from the staff working at the Foreign Office, it’s also true they repatriated only 19 children and 3 (+1) women since 2017.

Truth is: It’s a political decision of the German government to leave the other 70 German ISIS members and 150 kids in YPG detention.
Otherwise they could have repatriated them together with the US (who offered to assist with logistics) or Bundeswehr and/or BND.

Kids arriving at Frankfurt airport. These children, some of them orphans, were held in detention camps in Northern Syria for several years.
The German government decided to leave 150 German children there.