LISA SMITH WILL have to undergo a security assessment when she returns to Ireland in the coming weeks, security sources have confirmed.
It was revealed yesterday that Smith, who was married to an Islamic State fighter and lived in Syria until Turkey’s recent incursion into the country, is due to be repatriated to Ireland.
Smith, a former member of the Irish Defence Forces, had been captured by Kurdish forces in northeast Syria after Islamic State fighters lost control of their final stronghold.
She was being held with her two-year old daughter in the Al-Hawl displacement camp for the wives and children of Islamic State (IS) fighters.
The 38-year-old woman reportedly fled the camp with her daughter when the recent Turkish military incursion began. Yesterday Turkey said it was in the process of deporting 20 ‘foreign jihadists’ and said two Irish citizens were among those who were to be repatriated. It is understood that the two are Lisa Smith and her daughter.
Members of the Irish Defence Forces had already been dispatched to the border area between Syria and Turkey to bring Smith and her child home. Now it looks likely she will return to Ireland in a matter of weeks.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is believed to have issued Smith and her child with emergency documents so they can travel home.
Sources have said Smith will be subject to a security assessment when she arrives back in Dublin to determine whether she poses a risk to the State.
Gardaí have been tasked with generating a risk assessment report on Smith and are in the process of gathering information from those who served with her and who were her commanders at the time.
Smith has repeatedly claimed that she never once held a firearm or instructed ISIS fighters on how to assemble, maintain or fire weapons. This is something which gardaí are investigating and she will be interviewed on her return.
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