Germany Arrests French Woman who Allegedly Committed War Crimes after Joining ISIS

A giant ferris wheel stands on the Christmas market near the Berlin palace in Berlin, Germany November 30, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
A giant ferris wheel stands on the Christmas market near the Berlin palace in Berlin, Germany November 30, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
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Germany Arrests French Woman who Allegedly Committed War Crimes after Joining ISIS

A giant ferris wheel stands on the Christmas market near the Berlin palace in Berlin, Germany November 30, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
A giant ferris wheel stands on the Christmas market near the Berlin palace in Berlin, Germany November 30, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

German authorities said Thursday they had arrested a French woman who allegedly committed war crimes in Syria after joining ISIS.

Germany's federal prosecutor said the woman, who was only identified as Samra N. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested Tuesday in the western city of Trier.
The woman is suspected of having participated as a member of two foreign terrorist organizations as a teenager, the prosecutor's statement said, according to The Associated Press.
She allegedly traveled to Syria in September 2013, where she first joined Jabhat al-Nusra and married one of the group's fighters. In November 2013, the couple joined ISIS.

While in Syria, N. allegedly tried to persuade people living in Germany to also go to Syria to become a member of Jabhat al-Nusra. She also temporarily took in a woman who had been persuaded to leave the country in this way.
The suspect ran the household for her husband and helped him procure military equipment for ISIS, according to the charges.
On two occasions, when her husband was away on combat missions, she stayed in women’s houses that ISIS had occupied after driving out the original residents, which Germany considers a “war crime against property.”
N. returned to Germany at the beginning of 2014, but remained a member of ISIS until at least February 2015, prosecutors said. It was not immediately clear why, as a French citizen, she went to Germany.



China’s Foreign Minister Warns Philippines over US Missile Deployment

 China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends the 14th EAST Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting in the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends the 14th EAST Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting in the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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China’s Foreign Minister Warns Philippines over US Missile Deployment

 China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends the 14th EAST Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting in the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends the 14th EAST Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting in the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos July 27, 2024. (Reuters)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has warned the Philippines over the US intermediate-range missile deployment, saying such a move could fuel regional tensions and spark an arms race.

The United States deployed its Typhon missile system to the Philippines as part of joint military drills earlier this year. It was not fired during the exercises, a Philippine military official later said, without giving details on how long it would stay in the country.

China-Philippines relations are now at a crossroads and dialogue and consultation are the right way, Wang told the Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo on Friday during a meeting in Vientiane, the capital of Laos where top diplomats of world powers have gathered ahead of two summits.

Wang said relations between the countries are facing challenges because the Philippines has "repeatedly violated the consensus of both sides and its own commitments", according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

"If the Philippines introduces the US intermediate-range missile system, it will create tension and confrontation in the region and trigger an arms race, which is completely not in line with the interests and wishes of the Filipino people," Wang said.

The Philippines' military and its foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wang's remarks.

China and the Philippines are locked in a confrontation in the South China Sea and their encounters have grown more tense as Beijing presses its claims to disputed shoals in waters within Manila's its exclusive economic zone.

Wang said China has recently reached a temporary arrangement with the Philippines on the transportation and replenishment of humanitarian supplies to Ren'ai Jiao in order to maintain the stability of the maritime situation, referring to the Second Thomas Shoal.

Philippine vessels on Saturday successfully completed their latest mission to the shoal unimpeded, its foreign ministry said in a statement.