Brides of ISIL
Beginning in 2012, hundreds of girls and women traveled to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), becoming brides of ISIL fighters. While some traveled willingly, others were brought to Iraq and Syria as minors by their parents or family.[1][2]
Some of those women subsequently acquired high public profiles, either through their efforts to recruit more volunteers, when they died or because they recanted and wished to return to their home countries. Commentators have noted that it will be hard to differentiate between the women who played an active role in atrocities and those who were stay-at-home housewives.[3]
Name | Birth year | Date of volunteering | Date of defection | Home country | Notes |
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Fauzia Khamal Bacha | 2014 | Singapore |
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Emilie Konig | 1984 | 2012 | 2017 | France |
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Aqsa Mahmood | 2013 | United Kingdom |
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Daniela Greene | 1980 | 2014 | 2014 | United States |
|
Shima Essanoor | 1992 | 2014 | 2018 | United Kingdom |
|
Hoda Muthana | 1994 | 2014 | 2019 | United States |
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Salma Halane | 1998 | 2014 | United Kingdom |
| |
Zahra Halane | 1998 | 2014 | United Kingdom |
| |
Tara Nettleton | 1983 | 2013 | Australia |
| |
Zaynab Sharrouf | 2001 | 2013 | Australia |
| |
Zehra Duman | 1993 | 2014 | 2019 | Australia |
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Shams | 2015 | Malaysia |
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Kimberly Gwen Polman | 1972/3 | 2015 | 2019 | Canada/ United States |
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Reema Iqbal | 1990 | 2013 | United Kingdom | ||
Zara Iqbal | 1992 | 2013 | United Kingdom | ||
Natalie Bracht | 2013 | United Kingdom | |||
Ruzina Khanam | 2013 | United Kingdom | |||
Maylbongwe Sibanda | 2013 | United Kingdom | |||
Leonora Messing | Germany |
| |||
Hayat Boumeddiene | 1988 | 2015 | France |
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Shamima Begum | 2001 | 2015 | 2019 | United Kingdom | |
Amira Abase | 2001 | 2015 | United Kingdom |
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Kadiza Sultana | 2000 | 2015 | United Kingdom |
| |
Nassima Begum | 2012 | United Kingdom |
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Sharmeena Begum | 1999 | 2014 | United Kingdom |
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Sally Jones | 1968 | 2013 | 2017 | United Kingdom |
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Fatiha Mejjati | 1961 | 2014 | Morocco |
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Linda Wenzel | 2001 | 2016 | 2017 | Germany | |
"ISIL wife Sanna" | 1972 | 2014–2015 | 2019 | Finland |
|
Sabina Selimovic | 1999 | 2014 | Austria |
| |
Samra Kesinovic | 1997 | 2014 | 2014 | Austria |
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Shayma Assaad | 2019 | Australia |
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Kirsty Rosse-Emile | 1995 | 2014 | 2019 | Australia |
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Janai Safar | 1996 | 2015 | 2017 | Australia | |
Aylam | 2015 | 2017 | Australia |
| |
Lisa Smith | 1981 | 2011 | 2019 | Ireland |
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Dullel Kassab | 2014 | Australia |
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Lenora Lemke | 2000 | 2016 | 2019 | Germany |
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Nûh Suwaidi | 1995 | Germany | |||
Nora Camali | [data unknown/missing] | ||||
Mariam Dabboussy | 1992 | 2015 | 2019 | Australia | |
Nesrine Zahab | Australia |
| |||
Zara Ahmed | Australia |
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Zahra Ahmad | Australia |
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Amandine | France |
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Hafsa Sliti | 1988 | 2015 | 2017 | Belgium |
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Samantha Marie Elhassani | 1985 | 2014 | 2018 | United States |
|
Shannon Maureen Conley and Jaelyn Delshaun Young were American women who were apprehended when they tried to travel to ISIL-occupied territory.[51] Minnesotan Tnuza Jamal Hassan was prevented from traveling to Afghanistan.[52]
Statistics
Country | #[lower-alpha 1] |
---|---|
United Kingdom | 15 |
Australia | 12 |
Germany | 4 |
United States | 4 |
France | 3 |
Belgium | 1 |
Canada | 1 |
Finland | 1 |
Ireland | 1 |
Malaysia | 1 |
Morocco | 1 |
Singapore | 1 |
- Number of ISIL brides: (dual or multiple citizens are included in the count for each country of citizenship).
References
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Vikram Dodd and Esther Addley (15 February 2019). "Shamima Begum may have criminalised herself, says senior terrorism officer: Family calls for her return to the UK and considers legal action to stop government blocking it". The Guardian (UK). Archived from the original on 15 February 2019.
In 2015, Begum left with two school friends from their home in Bethnal Green to join Isis in Syria. She said this week that she did not regret her decision to go to Syria, but that she was nine months pregnant and wanted to come home to 'live quietly with [her] child'.
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"IS teen's wish to return stirs UK debate over jihadi brides". France 24. London. 15 February 2019. Archived from the original on 15 February 2019.
The Times newspaper managed to find an unrepentant Begum -- now 19 and about to give birth for the third time after seeing her first two children die -- at a refugee camp in eastern Syria.
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Nabih Bulos (18 March 2019). "Were the brides of Islamic State cloistered housewives or participants in atrocities?". Hagerstown Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
Investigators looking for clues to the individual actions of each woman, away from social media, will have a difficult time gathering evidence admissible in a court of law.
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Benita Kolovos; Rebecca Le May; Rebecca Gredley (24 June 2019). "Orphaned IS children on way to Australia". Newcastle Star. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
The others are three children aged six to 12, who are the offspring of ISIS fighter Yasin Rizvic and his wife, Fauzia Khamal Bacha.
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Helen Sullivan (24 June 2019). "Morning mail: Isis children rescued, Dutton defends Paladin, Barty No 1". The Australian Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
The remaining three are the children of the foreign fighter Yasin Rizvic and his wife, Fauzia Khamal Bacha, who joined Isis in 2014. It is the first instance of Australian children of foreign fighters being rescued from the northern Syrian camps.
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"ISIS bride and a fighter from Singapore said to have died in Syria". Straits Times. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
Fauziah Begum Khamal Bacha, who was living in Melbourne, is one of four radicalised Singaporeans known to have taken part in the Syrian conflict. Her husband, Yasin Rizvic, and their eldest son are also said to be dead.
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Helen Davidson (23 June 2019). "Children of Isis terrorist Khaled Sharrouf removed from Syria, set to return to Australia". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
The remaining three are the children of the foreign fighter Yasin Rizvic and his wife, Fauzia Khamal Bacha, who joined Isis in 2014.
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Alissa J. Rubin (11 January 2018). "She Left France to Fight in Syria. Now She Wants to Return. But Can She?". New York Times. Paris, France. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
A woman who left France and became a prominent propagandist and recruiter for the Islamic State has asked her family, friends and country for a pardon.
- "Syria girls: Families 'cannot stop crying'". BBC News. 22 February 2015. Archived from the original on 23 October 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
- James Cook (16 March 2015). "Glasgow 'jihadist' Aqsa Mahmood denies recruiting London girls". BBC News. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
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Scott Glover (1 May 2017). "The FBI translator who went rogue and married an ISIS terrorist". CNN. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
Greene's saga, which has never been publicized, exposes an embarrassing breach of national security at the FBI—an agency that has made its mission rooting out ISIS sympathizers across the country.
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Tresa Baldas (2 May 2017). "FBI translator secretly married Islamic State leader". USA Today. Detroit. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
On June 11, 2014, Greene told an FBI supervisor in Indianapolis that she was traveling to Germany to see her family. She filled out the required form and listed “vacation/personal” as the reason for going. Her declared return date: July 4, 2014.
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Kirstan Conley; Gabrielle Fonrouge; Bruce Golding (3 May 2017). "FBI translator who married ISIS terrorist refuses to talk about tryst". New York Post. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
On Monday, Greene was revealed to have spent two years in the slammer for lying about a 2014 trip she took to Syria, where she hooked up with notorious German rapper-turned-ISIS recruiter Denis “Deso Dogg” Cuspert.
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Tresa Baldas (2 May 2017). "FBI translator in Detroit secretly married ISIS leader". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
Amid the investigation, court records show, Greene fell in love with Cuspert, sneaked off to Syria in the summer of 2014, married him and warned him that “the FBI had an open investigation into his activities.” She quickly became disenchanted — e-mailing an unnamed person that she had "made a mess of things" — and somehow managed to escape Syria and get back to the U.S., where she was arrested.
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"Ex-Wife of Former Jihadist Tells of Miraculous Escape from Terror Clutches". Al Bawaba. 26 November 2018. Archived from the original on 12 December 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
The daughter of Somali-born parents Shima Essanoor first became immersed in the dark world of radical Islam after she was introduced Ture through her best friend's husband. She first met best friend Reema Iqbal, 30, while studying for her A-levels at a sixth form college in east London and the friendship quickly progressed.
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Martin Chulov, Bethan McKernan (17 February 2019). "Hoda Muthana 'deeply regrets' joining Isis and wants to return home". The Guardian. al-Hawl, Syria. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
For many months in 2015, her Twitter feed was full of bloodcurdling incitement, and she says she remained a zealot until the following year. She now says her account was taken over by others.
- Erin Marie Saltman; Melanie Smith (2015). 'Till Martyrdom Do Us Part' Gender and the ISIS Phenomenon (PDF). Institute for Strategic Dialogue. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
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"Who are the Australian women travelling to Syria as brides of the Caliphate?". The News (au). 8 May 2016. Archived from the original on 22 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
Also from Melbourne, Zehra married a Melbourne man who was fighting for Islamic State, Mahmoud Abdullatif. He was killed in action just five weeks later.
- Australian children of IS militants rescued from Syria camp, United Kingdom: BBC, 23 June 2019, retrieved 24 June 2019
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Rukmini Callimachi, Catherine Porter (19 February 2019). "2 American Wives of ISIS Militants Want to Return Home". The New York Times. al Hawl Camp, Syria. p. A1. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019.
Ms. Muthana and Ms. Polman acknowledged in the interview here that many Americans would question whether they deserved to be brought back home after joining one of the world’s deadliest terrorist groups.
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"Pakistani-origin ISIS brides lose British citizenship: Report". Hindustan Times. 11 March 2019. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
Reema Iqbal and her sister, Zara, have five boys under the age of eight between them and are being held in a Syrian detention camp. Reports of them losing their right to return to the UK after losing their citizenship rights come as it was confirmed that Bangladeshi-origin Shamima Begum lost her three-week-old baby in a Syrian refugee camp days after her British citizenship was similarly revoked.
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"UK sisters who wed Isis fighters lose citizenship". London Times. 10 March 2019. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
Two more Isis brides from Britain held with their young children in squalid Syrian detention camps are believed to have been stripped of their citizenship amid a growing political row over the death of Shamima Begum’s three-week-old baby.
- Diue Huong (30 October 2018). ""Làn sóng" góa phụ IS từ Syria trở về Anh" [The IS "wave" of widows from Syria returned to England]. Soha.vn (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
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Emma Wills (10 March 2019). "ISIS brides: Two more mothers 'stripped of UK citizenship' as Shamima Begum row continues". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
The paper quoted legal sources, naming the women as Reema Iqbal, 30, and her sister Zara, 28, whose parents are originally from Pakistan.
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"Returning female jihadists should be seen as threats to the West, not ISIS 'brides'". Wellston Journal. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
Natalie Bracht, Ruzina Khanam and Maylbongwe Sibanda are said to have travelled to Syria with the Iqbal sisters and their Portuguese-born husbands in 2013.
- Sarah El Deeb (4 March 2019). "Prominent French jihadis killed in IS-held area in Syria". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- Anthony Loyd (13 February 2019). "Shamima Begum: Bring me home, says Bethnal Green girl who left to join Isis". The Times. Al-Hawl, Syria. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
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Kelly McLaughlin (19 February 2019). "ISIS brides from Canada, the US, and Europe are asking to return home years after fleeing for Syria. Here are their stories". This is insider. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
Sultana is now believed to be dead, Sharmeena Begum and Abase are missing, Riedijk has turned himself in to authorities, and Shamima Begum is asking to return to London.
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Josie Ensor (14 February 2019). "Dispatch: 'I am not one of them', says British woman begging to come home from Syria's 'Camp of Death'". The Telegraph (UK). Al Hawl, Syria. Archived from the original on 15 March 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
She claimed to have been a housewife, who 'couldn’t even point to Syria on a map' when the family moved here in 2012 - before Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s caliphate was declared two years later.
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Paul Sperry (13 May 2017). "Meet the American women who are flocking to join ISIS". New York Post. Archived from the original on 22 February 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
Some of these ISIS brides living in Syria and Iraq have made the terrorist watchlist. Arguably the most dangerous is Sally Jones, 49, a British Muslim convert who goes by the nom de guerre Umm Hussain al-Britani. She is reportedly now on a British special-forces “kill list” after threatening Queen Elizabeth II.
- Timonen, Ilkka (6 March 2019). "CNN: Suomalainen Isis-vaimo Sanna haluaa palata kotimaahansa, mutta pelkää joutuvansa Suomessa vankilaan". Satakunnan Kansa (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
- "Finnish woman wants to return from IS stronghold: International media". Yle. 6 March 2019. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
- Ranta, Niko; Alenius, Jari (7 March 2019). ""Isis-vaimo" Sanna erosi aviomiehestään ennen lähtöään Syyriaan". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
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David Wroe, Josh Dye, Erin Pearson (4 April 2019). "What should Australia do with the children of Islamic State?". Sydney Morning Herald. Al-Hawl refugee camp. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age from al-Hawl camp, 16-year-old Hoda Sharrouf also says she forgives her father and mother, Tara Nettleton, for dragging her to Syria along with her four siblings when she was just 11 years old.
CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) -
Ben Graham (5 April 2019). "Parents of pregnant Melbourne woman stuck in Syria plead for PM to let her come home". The News (Australia). Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
Six months’ pregnant, Kirsty Rosse-Emile, 24, used to write about Justin Bieber, AFL scores and the soccer World Cup on her Facebook page before her posts suddenly changed about nine years ago.
- Emma Reynolds (2 April 2019). "Camp of the cursed: Inside bleak village home of lost Islamic State brides". The News (Australia). Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
- Livia Albeck-Ripka (25 October 2019). "'My Grandchild Is Not a Terrorist'". The New York Times. p. A2. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
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Tom Brady (10 March 2019). "Desperate mother Lisa Smith frantically tried to get cash to escape Isil Syria". Irish Independent. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
As an Isil bride, officers consider Ms. Smith to be a sympathiser rather than a fighter with Isil and this is expected to be taken into account when she is questioned after her return to Ireland.
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"Melbourne mum in Syria is no jihadi: dad". SBS News. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
Ms Kassab's father said she went to Syria to find out what happened to her husband.
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James Dowling (16 April 2015). "Melbourne grandparents' desperate plea for jihadi bride to bring back kids from Syria". Herald Sun. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
Mother Dullel Kassab has bragged online that her four-year-old daughter wants to watch videos of Muslims killing bad people.
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Phyllis Chesler (8 April 2015). "ISIS "Jihad Bride" Propaganda Lures Foreign Women". Middle East Forum. Archived from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
Then, there is the scarcity of medical care. The wife of an ISIS fighter was totally ignored as her blood pooled on the hospital floor during a painful miscarriage. According to Kassab: 'She wasn't offered a chair or a bed and nobody even returned to check on her… The muhajireen (migrants) are also subjected to mistreatment and discrimination by the locals.'
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Atika Shubert; Jana Andert; Waffa Munayyer; Nadine Schmidt (16 February 2019). "German teenage ISIS wife wed at 15: Two children later she faces uncertain future". CNN. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
Lemke is one of thousands of ISIS members in the custody of the US-backed Syrian Defense Forces, hundreds of them believed to be from European countries. But as the US prepares to withdraw its troops, it's unclear if the SDF has the capacity to keep them in custody or will be forced to release them.
- Smadar Perry (12 January 2019). "ISIS wives: The lost women of war". Ynetnews. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
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Livia Albeck-Ripka (24 October 2019). "Does Australia Have to Bring Its Women and Children Home From Syria's Camps?". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
While the details of many of the women’s stories are unknown, some have come forward to explain themselves, including Mariam Dabboussy. She says that in late 2015, she was forced by gunpoint over the Turkish border with Syria, after traveling there in what her husband claimed was an attempt to extract a relative who was trying to escape the Islamic State.
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Benedict Brook (1 October 2019). "From blushing Aussie bride to IS widow". The Chronicle. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
A second Australian woman, Zara Ahmed, said security in the camp was continuing to deteriorate, with a woman’s mutilated body found in the toilets. 'I’m so scared, I don’t know how much longer I can do this for,' she said.
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Ben Doherty (15 October 2019). "Australian families trapped in Isis camp in Syria plead with government to rescue them". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
A second Australian woman, Zara Ahmed, said security in the camp was continuing to deteriorate, with a woman’s mutilated body found in the toilets. 'I’m so scared, I don’t know how much longer I can do this for,' she said.
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Nino Bucci; Suzanne Dredge (19 October 2019). "How 12 Australian family members ended up detained in Syria after the fall of Islamic State". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
Among these men is notorious Islamic State recruiter Muhammad Zahab, who took the couple's eldest daughter Zahra as a second wife.
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"Jihadistes : la Turquie va expulser 11 prisonniers français" [Jihadists: Turkey will expel 11 French prisoners]. France TV Info (in French). 11 November 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
Parmi ces mères, Amandine, qu'une équipe de France 2 avait filmée en décembre 2018 dans le camp de Roj, au nord-est de la Syrie. Originaire du Calvados, elle s'est mariée à deux reprises, à chaque fois avec un jihadiste, et est mère d'un enfant. Elle va donc finalement rentrer avec son fils, mais comme les autres rapatriés, elle sera incarcérée sur le champ. En revanche, les enfants seront confiés aux services sociaux.
- Pieter Van Maele (31 October 2019). "Belgische Syriëstrijdster radicaliseerde door vader, die 'reisbureau voor jihadisten' runde" [Belgian Syria fighter radicalized by father, who ran 'travel agency for jihadists'] (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 23 September 2020.
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"Former Indiana Resident Pleads Guilty to Concealing Terrorism Financing". US Department of Justice. 26 November 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
In November 2014, Elhassani was informed by her husband that he and his brother wanted to travel to Syria to join ISIS, which she knew was a terrorist organization that engaged in terrorist activities.
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Dave Madoor (21 February 2019). "Hoda Muthana Denied US Citizenship: Other ISIS Brides From The Country". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
However, Muthana isn’t the first ISIS bride from the U.S. In 2017, the ISIS was recruiting an army of women who married ISIS militants. They called themselves the “lionesses of Allah” and their children were called the “cubs of caliphate”. They believed they were carrying the work of Allah through all the killings and bloodshed. The ISIS brides were living in Syria and Iraq and several of them made to the terrorist watchlist.
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Amy Forlili (17 February 2018). "Minn. terror case shows challenge of predicting attacks". The Ledger. Minneapolis. Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
After Tnuza Jamal Hassan was stopped from flying to Afghanistan last September, she allegedly told FBI agents that she wanted to join al-Qaida and marry a fighter, and that she might even wear a suicide belt.