Danish Woman Evacuated from Syrian Camps Sentenced for Aiding ISIS

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. Reuters
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. Reuters
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Danish Woman Evacuated from Syrian Camps Sentenced for Aiding ISIS

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. Reuters
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. Reuters

A Danish woman evacuated from a Syrian detention camp last year was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison by a Danish court for aiding ISIS militants and illegally travelling to and residing in conflict zones, her lawyer said.

The 35-year-old woman travelled to Syria with her husband in 2013. When trying to escape ISIS’ so-called "caliphate" in 2018 with the help of human traffickers, they were captured by Kurdish forces, who sent her to the al-Roj detention camp in Kurdish-held territory in northeastern Syria due to their association with the terrorist group.

The specifics of her escape was unclear. The woman was separated from her husband during the escape attempt, and it is unclear what happened to him.

Last year the woman - whose name has never been made public - and her five children were evacuated by Danish authorities along with two other women and their nine children. In the same evacuation, Germany also took in eight other mothers and 23 children from Syrian camps.

The woman pleaded guilty to aiding ISIS by working as a housewife and to illegally travelling to and residing in a conflict area, her lawyer told Reuters. The woman accepted the three-year sentence, the lawyer added.



France Highlights Its Role in Brokering Lebanon Ceasefire Deal

 Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)
Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)
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France Highlights Its Role in Brokering Lebanon Ceasefire Deal

 Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)
Lebanese soldiers ride in a convoy in Mansouri, as they head to southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP)

France’s foreign minister underlined his country’s role in brokering an agreement that ended fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group alongside the US, saying the deal wouldn’t have been possible without France’s special relationship with its former protectorate.

“It’s a success for French diplomacy and we can be proud,” said the minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, speaking hours after the ceasefire went into effect Wednesday.

“It is true that the United States have a privileged relationship with Israel. But with Lebanon, it’s France that has very old ties, very close ties,” the minister added. “It would not have been possible to envisage a ceasefire in Lebanon without France being involved on the front line.”

France will be involved in monitoring the ceasefire, Barrot noted, with 700 French soldiers deployed as part of the 10,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, that has been patrolling the border area between Lebanon and Israel for nearly 50 years.

The minister said France will also work to strengthen Lebanese troops that will deploy in the south of the country as part of the ceasefire, although he didn’t specify what that might include.