SIMALKA CROSSING: The Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria on Monday handed over four children linked with the Daesh group to Germany, their first such repatriation to the European country, an official said.
“The autonomous region handed over four children from Daesh families to a delegation from Germany,” said Fanar Kaeet, a foreign affairs official with the Kurdish authorities.
They included a boy and two sisters who had lost both parents, and a fatherless girl infant who was repatriated for health reasons, Kurdish authorities said.
All are under 10 years old, they said.
A spokeswoman for the German foreign ministry confirmed the handover to staff from its consulate in neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan at the Simalka border crossing.
“I can confirm that four children who were in custody in northern Syria were able to leave Syria,” she said.
“The children were received on the Iraqi-Syrian border by staff of the consulate in Irbil and will be given to family members,” the spokeswoman said.
“From there, the children and their family members will, we believe, travel to Germany.”
Syria’s Kurds have spearheaded the US-backed fight against Daesh in Syria, and in March expelled the extremists from their last patch of territory in the war-torn country’s far east.
Even as they fight remaining sleeper cells, thousands of alleged Daesh fighters and family members are being held in their custody.
These include hundreds of suspected foreign fighters in their jails, and thousands of their alleged family members in overcrowded camps.
Western countries have been largely reluctant to repatriate their nationals.
But France and Belgium have brought a handful of orphans home, while the United States last year repatriated a woman with her four children.
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kosovo have repatriated dozens of women and children.
Daesh overran large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a “caliphate” there, but offensives in both countries have seen them lose that territory.
A dozen children of alleged jihadist fighters have been repatriated from Iraq to Germany since March.
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Syria Kurds hand over four Daesh-linked children to Germany
Syria Kurds hand over four Daesh-linked children to Germany
- They included a boy and two sisters who had lost both parents, and a fatherless girl infant
- A spokeswoman for the German foreign ministry confirmed the handover to staff from its consulate
Turkiye arrests two on charges of spying for Israel
- Security sources said Mehmet Budak Derya and Veysel Kerimoglu had been arrested in Istanbul
- They had long been on the radar of Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency
ISTANBUL: Turkish intelligence has arrested two people on suspicion of spying for Israel’s Mossad and providing information that helped the spy agency target its enemies, state news agency Anadolu reported Friday.
Security sources said Mehmet Budak Derya and Veysel Kerimoglu had been arrested in Istanbul, saying they had long been on the radar of Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency.
Derya, a mining engineer, allegedly first caught the attention of Mossad in 2005 when he opened a marble quarry near the southern coastal city of Mersin and began trading overseas, first contacting him via an individual called Ali Ahmed Yassin in 2012, the sources said.
Investigators said Yassin, who ran an Israeli shell company, invited Derya for a business meeting in Europe in 2013 which is where he allegedly first met Mossad agents, they said.
During the meeting, they discussed the marble trade and suggested he hire a Turkish citizen of Palestinian origin called Veysel Kerimoglu, they said.
The men became friends and allegedly began sharing information with Mossad, who paid Kerimoglu’s salary, they said.
Through Kerimoglu, Derya is alleged to have increased his Middle Eastern activities, building social and commercial ties with Palestinians opposed to Israel’s policies and allegedly sharing information about them with Mossad.
The men are also alleged to have sent through technical information and photos of premises they were looking to acquire, notably in Gaza.
In early 2016, Kerimoglu is alleged to have suggested to Derya to begin supplying drone parts, with the businessman making contact with Mohamed Zouari who was killed in Tunisia later that year, allegedly by Mossad, investigators said.
Zouari — an engineer who specialized in drone development for the Palestinian Hamas movement — was gunned down in his car in the eastern city of Sfax in December 2016.
Late last year, a Tunisian a court convicted 18 people in absentia over his murder.
Derya is alleged to have used an encrypted communication system to send technical data to his handlers, and underwent two lie detector tests in 2016 and 2024.
He was arrested while trying to set up a company that would have overseen three Asian shell companies whose aim was allegedly to hide the origins of various products that would have been supplied to buyers on Mossad’s radar.
The plan was allegedly discussed in detail at their last meeting in January.
Both suspects are currently being questioned by police, they said.
Security sources said Mehmet Budak Derya and Veysel Kerimoglu had been arrested in Istanbul, saying they had long been on the radar of Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency.
Derya, a mining engineer, allegedly first caught the attention of Mossad in 2005 when he opened a marble quarry near the southern coastal city of Mersin and began trading overseas, first contacting him via an individual called Ali Ahmed Yassin in 2012, the sources said.
Investigators said Yassin, who ran an Israeli shell company, invited Derya for a business meeting in Europe in 2013 which is where he allegedly first met Mossad agents, they said.
During the meeting, they discussed the marble trade and suggested he hire a Turkish citizen of Palestinian origin called Veysel Kerimoglu, they said.
The men became friends and allegedly began sharing information with Mossad, who paid Kerimoglu’s salary, they said.
Through Kerimoglu, Derya is alleged to have increased his Middle Eastern activities, building social and commercial ties with Palestinians opposed to Israel’s policies and allegedly sharing information about them with Mossad.
The men are also alleged to have sent through technical information and photos of premises they were looking to acquire, notably in Gaza.
In early 2016, Kerimoglu is alleged to have suggested to Derya to begin supplying drone parts, with the businessman making contact with Mohamed Zouari who was killed in Tunisia later that year, allegedly by Mossad, investigators said.
Zouari — an engineer who specialized in drone development for the Palestinian Hamas movement — was gunned down in his car in the eastern city of Sfax in December 2016.
Late last year, a Tunisian a court convicted 18 people in absentia over his murder.
Derya is alleged to have used an encrypted communication system to send technical data to his handlers, and underwent two lie detector tests in 2016 and 2024.
He was arrested while trying to set up a company that would have overseen three Asian shell companies whose aim was allegedly to hide the origins of various products that would have been supplied to buyers on Mossad’s radar.
The plan was allegedly discussed in detail at their last meeting in January.
Both suspects are currently being questioned by police, they said.
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