“It’s a deeply disturbing phenomenon,’’ said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. But does she have any interest in exploring why it is happening, and coming to grips with the appeal of the concept of the caliphate? Probably not, as that would require acknowledging that the Islamic State had something to do with Islam, and that is something Western governments show no sign of being prepared to do.
“Two Sydney women flee to Syria to become IS jihahi [sic] terror brides,” by Samantha Maiden, The Sunday Telegraph, December 13, 2014:
A TEENAGER and her 20-year-old friend have become the first Australian women to “go it alone” to join terrorists in Syria and offer themselves as potential jihadi brides, intelligence agencies believe.
The girls, Hodan, 18 and Hafsa, 20, who are believed to have links with the Somali community, flew out of Sydney in the past fortnight to go overseas and are believed to have lied to their families about why they were travelling. The Sunday Telegraph has chosen not to publish their last names.
While there have been numerous cases of young Australian men being radicalised by Islamic State recruiters and women joining their husbands or boyfriends in the Syrian war zone, this is the first case of young women travelling independently to travel to the war zone.
If they travel to Islamic State’s stronghold in northern Syria, the province of al-Raqqa, the pair will face a jail term of up to 10 years if they ever return to Australia.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said fresh reports of teenagers travelling to the region was of great concern.
“It’s a deeply disturbing phenomenon,’’ she said. “We are now seeing examples of young women being radicalised and travelling to Syria and Iraq to take part in fighting for listed terrorists organisations.”
Ms Bishop recently declared the area a “no-go zone” under foreign fighters laws, making it a criminal offence to travel to the region without a good reason.
Islamic State has issued a worldwide recruitment drive to secure brides for jihadists [sic] fighters….