Details emerge of S’porean family who have joined fight in Syria

PETALING JAYA — A 47-year-old Singaporean woman and her two teenage children are fighting alongside jihadists in Syria or supporting them, as more details emerged yesterday of this family first disclosed by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean as Singaporeans who are taking part in the Syrian conflict.

The woman had gone to Syria with her 37-year-old Penang-born husband, Malaysia’s The Star newspaper reported yesterday. Her children — an 18-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son — are from a previous marriage and also Singapore citizens, the report added.

Previous reports had said the family of four were Malaysian citizens and that they were the first Malaysian family believed to be fighting in the ongoing Syrian civil war.

DPM Teo told Parliament in July that the woman and her children were among a handful of Singaporeans who had gone to Syria to take part in the conflict. The woman had gone there with her foreign husband, added Mr Teo, who is also Home Affairs Minister.

“The whole family is taking part in the conflict in various ways, either joining the terrorist groups to fight, or providing aid and support to the fighters,” Mr Teo had told Parliament, as he reiterated the Government’s concerns that Singaporeans could join the fight in Syria.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) yesterday confirmed that the Singaporean family in The Star report was the same one mentioned by Mr Teo in July. “The said woman was last known to be married to a Malaysian. She was not known to be radical when she lived in Singapore. She left Singapore several years ago,” an MHA spokesperson said in a statement.

Sources told The Star the family had left for Syria together in November, but they later separated, heading off to different parts of the country to take part in the jihadist operations with various militant factions.

“The authorities believe the man joined the (Al Qaeda-linked) Jabhat Al-Nusra group and his stepson the IS (Islamic State). The wife worked as a cook while the daughter taught English to the children of the fighters in Syria,” one source told the newspaper.

Mr Teo had also said that another Singaporean, Mr Haja Fakkurudeen Usman Ali, a naturalised Singaporean citizen, had also taken his wife and three children to Syria. Several others had intended to travel to Syria or other conflict zones to engage in jihadist violence, but were detected before they could proceed with plans.

The Islamic State’s sweep through swathes of Iraq and Syria this year has energised radical Muslim followers in the region to join the hundreds of foreigners who are believed to have travelled to Syria take part in the conflict.

Although the precise locations of the family members is not known, sources told The Star one possible location is east Hama, where jihadists have been known to have a base of operations. The authorities are keeping close tabs on the family, the newspaper said.

The Penang man is believed to be among 40 Malaysians fighting in the Middle East alongside the Islamic State militants, said The Star. Malaysian officials believe that 26-year-old Malaysian factory worker Ahmad Tarmimi had carried out a suicide bombing at a police station in Iraq in May, becoming the country’s first militant from the group.

Malaysian Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said his ministry is working with intelligence agencies and Interpol to monitor Malaysians travelling via transit countries to Iraq and Syria.

On Thursday, Dr Ahmad Zahid urged Malaysians not to get involved with militant groups in Iraq and Syria to prevent Malaysia from being accused of being a training ground for militants.

“Although we sympathise with what is happening in these countries, we can only be involved by providing humanitarian aid and not by supporting or opposing any of the warring parties. If otherwise, Malaysia could be perceived as a terrorists’ training ground by the international community,” he was quoted saying by Bernama. Agencies