Irish Muslim covert Carol Duffy has told the Claire Byrne show that she regrets believing her friend Lisa Smith was duped into supporting ISIS after photos emerged of the former Irish Air Corps member posing with weapons while wearing full Islamic dress in Tunisia just before she travelled to Syria to join Isis.
Smith spent nearly a decade in the Irish Defence Forces before converting to Islam and joining Isis in September 2015.
Norma Costello writing in the London Times said it is unclear if she fought during her time in Syria or if she became a member of the Isis morality police, known as Hisbah.
"The 38-year-old insists she did not join in any fighting and moved to the “Islamic state” solely for religious reasons. However, well-placed sources say Smith spoke of her desire to fight in 2013 and lamented that her military skills were inadequate and out of date.
"Activists with Sound and Picture, a Syrian human-rights body, believe Smith was involved in a female unit established by “punk jihadist” Sally Jones. The Anwar al-Awlaki battalion, which never saw combat, is believed to have been established by Jones specifically for the “Mujarharat”, western female Isis recruits."
Costello writes that as Lisa Smith became radicalised in Ireland, she drew attention from former Air Corps colleagues, who claim she tried to convert them and some colleagues raised concerns over her behaviour, and discussed removing the firing pin from her weapon.
It was when she quit the Air Corps that Smith developed a support for ISIS after spending time researching Islam online and speaking to jihadists around the world like American convert John Georgelas, it is alleged.
Smith travelled to Syria with Georgelas, who is credited with producing English content for Rumiyah, an Isis propaganda magazine. in 2013.
Smith returned to Ireland in 2014 undetected by Irish security services despite Georgelas being monitored by the FBI.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/isis-bride-smith-posed-with-guns-before-heading-to-syria-tp7pp9fck
Norma Costello told Pat Kenny that there are many ISIS supporters who have returned to Ireland and many more who want to return.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/CuRkgTDquEkE/
Broadcast: The Claire Byrne Show | RTÉ |07 Oct 2019
