Mom Reportedly Brings Her Kids to ISIS, Ready to Serve

Aysha and Luca have been taken by their mother from their home in the Netherlands to Syria, according to Dutch authorities. Photo courtesy of Politie.

A mother of four from Chechnya has left her home in the Netherlands, abducting two of her young kids in the process and taking them to join ISIS militants in Syria, according to Dutch prosecutors. The unnamed woman, 33, apparently left the city of Maastricht in October, taking Luca, 8, and Aysha, 7, with her, against the wishes of their estranged Dutch father.

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“She first tried to leave unsuccessfully from Germany, then some time later travelled from Belgium to Greece and onward to Syria,” prosecutor spokesperson Bart den Hartigh told the Dutch broadcaster NOS, noting the trio most likely traveled with false passports and the help of foreign recruiters. “We have an international alert out but now they’re there, there’s not much we can do.”

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The parents separated six years ago, soon after the woman began showing signs of radicalization, according to the Guardian. Now, the situation is “crushing my soul,” the father told a local newspaper.

ISIS militants may have some new members thanks to a mother who has taken her two children to Syria from the Netherlands. Getty Images/Younis Al-Bayati.

The mother had reportedly come to the attention of the Dutch intelligence service in 2011 when she had a brief relationship with a fundamentalist Chechen; the two had a third child together. That man has joined the Islamist al-Shabaab group and may be in Somalia, reported the Guardian; a third radical Islamist partner, the father of a fourth child, is believed to be in Belgium.

Prosecutors are treating it as a case of kidnapping and have issued an international arrest warrant, though there is very little they can do to bring the family home. The Dutch child protection service says 31 young children have left for Syria with their families over the past two years, while a dozen additional minors, ages 16 to 18, have traveled on their own. Authorities believe this is the first time that one parent has taken kids without the permission of the other.

So what would make a mother do such a thing?

John Horgan, a psychologist and professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Center for Terrorism and Security Studies, spoke to the International Business Times recently about what compels people to join ISIS. And for foreigners, they’re often driven by the need to “belong to something special,” he said. “They want to find something meaningful for their life,” he added. “Some are thrill seeking, some are seeking redemption.”

Much of ISIS’s recruitment success has come through social media. “They have become so adept at social media that they are reaching out to disaffected individuals on a global scale,” Horgan said. He added, “It is important to look at accounts of individuals that have become disillusioned as a result of joining ISIS. It is key to preventing the next generation from joining.” Which will be increasingly difficult if it’s more parents who begin signing up their kids.

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