Germany Brings Home 3 Women, 12 Kids From Camps in Syria

A general view of al-Hol displacement camp in Hasaka governorate, Syria April 2, 2019. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
A general view of al-Hol displacement camp in Hasaka governorate, Syria April 2, 2019. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
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Germany Brings Home 3 Women, 12 Kids From Camps in Syria

A general view of al-Hol displacement camp in Hasaka governorate, Syria April 2, 2019. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
A general view of al-Hol displacement camp in Hasaka governorate, Syria April 2, 2019. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho

Germany has organized the return of three women and 12 children from camps in northeastern Syria for humanitarian reasons.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Sunday did not further identify the women or children, who were flown back to Germany on Saturday.

However, the German weekly Bild am Sonntag reported that all three women had left Germany in recent years to join the extremist ISIS group Syria. The paper identified the women as Merve A., Yasmin A. and Leonora M.

Also Sunday, Germany's federal prosecutor's office said a German citizen by the name of Leonora M. had been arrested upon her arrival at Frankfurt airport. It said she is accused of membership in the foreign terrorist group ISIS and allegedly committed crimes against humanity.

Maas said he was "very relieved" about the return of the 12 children and three of their mothers.

"These are humanitarian cases, especially orphans and children with illnesses - cases in which the departure was urgently needed," Maas said.

"This good news just before Christmas makes us confident that we will be able to organize the return of further cases as well," he said adding that the government would advocate the return of others in coming weeks and months.

Maas said the return was organized in cooperation with Finland, which brought home six children and two women.

Hundreds of Europeans - many of them young women - left the continent in the last couple of years to join ISIS and fight in Syria and Iraq. Several died, others were arrested and detained by Turkish, Kurdish, or Iraqi authorities who have been eager to deport them and their children back to Europe.

European governments, however, have been reluctant to take back the often radicalized Islamic State supporters and sentiment is running high across Europe against the returnees.



Hezbollah Rocket Hits Near Tel Aviv after Beirut Airstrike

Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
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Hezbollah Rocket Hits Near Tel Aviv after Beirut Airstrike

Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

Lebanon's Hezbollah fired heavy rocket barrages at Israel on Sunday, with Israeli media reporting that a building had been hit near Tel Aviv, after a powerful Israeli airstrike killed at least 20 people in Beirut the day before.

Israel also struck Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, where intensified bombardment over the last two weeks has coincided with signs of progress in US-led ceasefire talks.

Hezbollah, which has previously vowed to respond to attacks on Beirut by targeting Tel Aviv, said it had launched two precision missiles at military sites in Tel Aviv and nearby.

There were no reports from Israel of damage to the sites, but broadcaster Kan showed an apartment damaged by rocket fire in Petah Tikvah, east of Tel Aviv. Footage broadcast by the medical service MDA showed cars ablaze in Petah Tikvah.

Hezbollah fired 170 rockets at Israel on Sunday, according to the Israeli military, which said many had been intercepted, but at least four people had been injured by rocket shrapnel.

Video obtained by Reuters showed a projectile exploding on impact as it smashed into the roof of a building in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya.

Israel warned on social media that it planned to target Hezbollah facilities in southern Beirut before strikes which security sources in Lebanon said demolished two apartment blocks.

On Saturday, it had carried out one of its deadliest and most powerful strikes on the center of Beirut, killing at least 20 people, Lebanon's health ministry said. The Israeli military did not comment on the strike or the target.

Israel went on the offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in September, pounding the south, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut's southern suburbs with airstrikes after nearly a year of hostilities ignited by the Gaza war.

Israeli attacks killed 84 in Lebanon on Saturday, taking the death toll to 3,754 and 15,626 injured since October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry reported on Sunday.

US CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL AWAITS ISRAEL'S RESPONSE

The Israeli offensive has uprooted more than 1 million people in Lebanon.

Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from its north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.

US mediator Amos Hochstein highlighted progress in negotiations during a visit to Beirut last week, before travelling to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, and then returning to Washington.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday said a US ceasefire proposal was awaiting final approval from Israel.

"We must pressure the Israeli government and maintain the pressure on Hezbollah to accept the US proposal for a ceasefire," he said in Beirut after meeting Lebanese officials.

Diplomacy has focused on restoring a ceasefire based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war. It requires Hezbollah to pull its fighters back around 30 km (19 miles) from the Israeli border, and the Lebanese army to deploy in the buffer zone.

The Lebanese army said on Sunday at least one soldier had been killed and 18 more injured in an Israeli strike that caused severe damage at an army center in Al-Amiriya near the southern city of Tyre.

The Israeli military said it regretted and was investigating the incident, and that it was fighting against Hezbollah, not the Lebanese Army.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said the attack "represents a direct bloody message rejecting all efforts to reach a ceasefire, strengthen the army’s presence in the south, and implement ... 1701".

Borrell said the EU was ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208 million) to support the Lebanese army.