THE FATHER of ISIS bride Lisa Smith has launched an emotional appeal for help finding his daughter and two-year-old granddaughter who are both caught up in the chaos unfolding in Syria.
A former Defence Forces Soldier from Dundalk, Smith first travelled to Syria back in 2016 to join up with the Islamic State.
She ended up in a detention camp in the region along with her now two-year-old daughter Rakaya following the collapse of the IS caliphate and death of her jihadist husband.
Smith had been seeking safe passage back to Ireland since and has always maintained she played no part in any acts of terror carried out by the Islamic State.
While Leo Varadkar and the Irish government had previously insisted it was taking steps to bring her and her daughter home, the unfolding situation in Syria has put those plans in peril.
Smith is reportedly several hundred of ISIS members who have fled the detention camp and surrounding area after fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces left their positions following an offensive by Turkish-backed militants.
Smith’s last confirmed sighting alongside her daughter came on October 2, when she reportedly asked to speak to an Irish journalist.
“We have pleaded with the Government for their help to bring Lisa and her daughter, my granddaughter, back and it seems to have fallen on deaf ears,” the told the Irish Mirror.
“This is a life or death situation for a small child. The Irish government promised to help her and they did nothing. It was all false hope.”
Syrian Democratic Forces are preparing to stand their ground as part of a combined offensive with assistance from the Assad regime and Russia against Turkish backed militants following the US exit from defence positions near the Turkish border.
The status and location of the foreign jihadists once held in camps and detention centres in the region remains unknown.
See More: ISIS Bride, Leo Varadkar, Lisa Smith
