The widow of an ISIS terrorist said that America was at fault in the battle between Western and allied forces and the Islamic terror group, claiming that the only terrorism she witnessed before surrendering to Syrian forces was committed by the United States.
“This is not war. I did not see fighters, people taking up arms and waging jihad against America. No, I only saw America killing—a lot,” Um Walaa, a French national, said after being evacuated from Bagouz.
Walaa and scores of women and children that were living among or were part of ISIS have been taken to refugee camps and other areas as America and American-backed Syrian Defense Forces drew close to decimating the terror group’s last holdouts.
Walaa claimed that from her vantage point, she’s not sure why people are afraid of ISIS, which has carried out brutal attacks in multiple countries, including the slaughter of dozens of people in Paris in November 2015.
“They used to say we [ISIS] made the world scared. Honestly, I did not see this. I did not see that we terrorized the world,” she said.
At another point, Walaa, who was dressed from head to toe in black with her entire body covered except for slits for her eyes and who said she was a French national born and raised in Belgium, said her husband died fighting for ISIS.
She said she traveled to Syria to be part of ISIS because she wanted to help. Eventually, her daughter was born there.
“I wanted to see what there was in Syria. And what I saw was terrorism. America kills a lot of people,” she said.
Walaa’s comments come as countries around the world face women who traveled to Syria and were married to ISIS terrorists trying to return home.
Hoda Muthana, who married three ISIS terrorists, is trying to get back into the United States but American officials said she is not a U.S. citizen and won’t be allowed back in.
“This is a woman who went online and tried to kill young men and women of the United States of America. She advocated for jihad, for people to drive vans across streets here in the United States and kill Americans,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters on March 4.
“She’s not a U.S. citizen. She has no claim of U.S. citizenship. In fact, she’s a terrorist, and we shouldn’t bring back foreign terrorists to the United States of America. It’s not the right thing to do,” he said.
Muthana tried recruiting for ISIS while she was in Syria, posting frequently in praise of the extremist Muslim group and its policies. At one point, she wrote in a post on Twitter exhorting Muslim Americans to carry out terror attacks, “Go on drive-bys and spill all of their blood, or rent a big truck and drive all over them. Veterans, Patriot, Memorial etc Day parade.”
The United Kingdom is dealing with a potential influx of so-called ISIS brides as at least 12 British nationals surfaced in refugee camps in recent weeks. The most high-profile case involves Shamima Begum, who was stripped of her citizenship after running away from her London home four years ago to join ISIS.
While Begum’s family said that they were “shocked and appalled at the vile comments” that Begum recently made, they’ve stood by her and insisted that she should be able to return to the United Kingdom.
Austria is also among the countries facing the potential return of jihadi women; two teens who left their homes to join ISIS are now reportedly trying to re-enter the country. If they do so, they could face up to 15 years in prison.
Reuters contributed to this report.
