Former Irish soldier who joined ISIS returned from Turkey

Her daughter, 2, who was born in Syria is reportedly being cared for by relatives

Lisa Smith was repatriated to Ireland from Turkey. ITV
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A former member of the Irish military who joined ISIS in Syria arrived home on Sunday after being deported by Turkey.

Lisa Smith, 38, and her daughter, 2, who was born in Syria but is also an Irish citizen, were returned to Dublin by Turkey.

Ankara said it had captured 287 ISIS suspects who escaped Kurdish detention during its offensive in Syria.

Turkey has begun deporting foreign nations linked to ISIS and identified Smith among those who escaped detention during the fighting.

Smith travelled to Syria to join ISIS in 2015. She was interviewed by police on her arrival in Ireland on Sunday and arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences.

Police said her daughter was being cared for by relatives, the Irish state broadcaster RTE reported.

Smith and her daughter were taken to the back of the plane as it touched down in Dublin and taken off under blankets from the back steps, away from other passengers on board.

They were then taken from the gate in an unmarked police vehicle.

They were accompanied on the flight by three consular officials, members of the Army Rangers Wing of the Irish Defence Forces and a Turkish security official.

Before Smith’s arrival in Dublin, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said that her daughter would be looked after.

“Obviously, when it comes to her daughter, she’s a child and she will be protected,” Mr Varadkar said.

“In relation to Lisa Smith, the gardai are going to want to speak to her. They may be in a position to charge her and if they do a prosecution may follow.”

Dublin has said for months that it had a responsibility to find a way to bring Smith back to Ireland and that its main concern was for the safe repatriation of her daughter.

Between 2000 and 2011, Smith, from Dundalk in County Louth, served in the Irish army before transferring to the air force where she worked on the government jet.

Mr Varadkar had said that a security assessment would be needed to ensure she “does not become a threat to life and limb in Ireland”.

On Saturday, ISIS claimed responsibility after a man killed two members of the public on London Bridge in an incident that police said was being treated as a terrorist attack.

Turkey has accused its European allies of being too slow to take back citizens who travelled to the Middle East to join ISIS.

Meanwhile, European countries are trying to speed up a plan to move thousands of militants out of Syrian prisons and into Iraq.

So far, Turkey has repatriated 10 German nationals, a US citizen and a Briton who was suspected to be an ISIS fighter.

Eleven detainees from France will be repatriated in early December, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Thursday.

Most European states have said ISIS suspects should be tried in the country where their crimes were committed.

But experts say there is concern about achieving convictions in European states, given a lack of suitable legislation and patchy evidence gathered from of Syria and Iraq.

Even if convictions are secured for former ISIS members and supporters, experts say sentences may be short because of the nature of laws surrounding joining foreign terrorist groups.