Norma Costello

@normcos

Freelance journalist somewhere between Ireland, the Balkans and the Middle East. norma.costello@gmail.com

Joined May 2010
365 Photos and videos Photos and videos

You may also like

·

Tweets

You blocked @normcos

Are you sure you want to view these Tweets? Viewing Tweets won't unblock @normcos

  1. 44 minutes ago

    Meet Lisa Smith's recruiter John Georgelas. It took a long time to get this info and verify it but we can now say Smith's travel plans were arranged by this man.

    12 retweets 8 likes
    Undo
  2. 8 hours ago

    One last thing, anyone following this story will notice a remarkable shift in tone regarding her husband from my April interview with Smith to my most recent. She initially spoke disparagingly of him "never worked a day in his life" now he is a protector who kept her safe.

    4 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  3. 8 hours ago

    She also spoke of her friendship with Sally Jones who Smith said she visited several times in Raqqa. Again she claimed not to know how high profile Jones was and described her as a caring mother who spent her days looking after her injured child. Jones was killed in an airstrike.

    1 reply 2 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  4. 8 hours ago

    This information shows Smith knew and associated with ISIS top foreign recruits and may herself have been recruited by one of the organisation's most prominent actors.

    1 reply 2 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  5. 8 hours ago

    2) I verified this with Irish and international security sources. They confirmed Smith did indeed live with Georgelas and his family in Raqqa.

    1 reply 2 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  6. 8 hours ago

    Lisa seemed surpised to learn via the FBI that Georgelas was so high profile. Whether this was genuine was hard to tell but yes, lisa confimed she knew him before and during her time in Syria.

    1 reply 2 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  7. 8 hours ago

    1) Lisa herself. When i interviewed her in April she said "some american" told her she would burn in the hell fire for following the "bad" islam. When I mentioned his name at out 2nd interview she confimed she lived with Georgelas after she left the house for women in Raqqa.

    1 reply 2 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  8. 8 hours ago

    Lisa smith spoke to prominent propganda and theology expert John Georgelas before she left for via Facebook. An American convert Georgelas was one of ISIS most important foreign recruits. He convinced her to travel & she lived with him in Syria. How do I know this?

    2 replies 3 retweets 7 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  9. 22 hours ago

    The person who aided Lisa Smith's radicalised view of Islam and convinced her to travel to ISIS territory held a very important role in the Islamic State. Details in tomorrow's

    1 reply 2 retweets 7 likes
    Undo
  10. 23 hours ago

    One important point Lisa Smith made was her ability to escape or be removed from the camp by ISIS. She said: "Dawla will just buy me back" This is why she needs to be repatriated quickly. Populist statement like "let her find her own way back" affect Irish security.

    1 reply 3 retweets 3 likes
    Undo
  11. Jul 19

    Some of my work in Iraq for RTE focusing on the yazidis and the abuse and violence they suffered under ISIS. Hope they air the rest of these interviews. Hanna was just 12 when they took her. She's afraid to leave the camp her sister is still with ISIS.

    2:04
    The Yazidi people: Some of Islamic State's many victims |
    3 replies 34 retweets 89 likes
    Undo
  12. Jul 19

    Last day filming with the Yazidis in Iraq. NGOs are finishing up their projects leaving kids rescued from ISIS just three months ago at risk. We met kids who immediately asked for guns when they finally reached their families. Camp workers are afraid of them so are their parents

    7 retweets 26 likes
    Undo
  13. Jul 19

    Prime Time a current affairs show on RTE showed an extended version of my interview with Lisa. More important details this Sunday for the

    1:02
    Tonight on Prime Time we have an extended interview with Lisa Smith, the woman who joined , and ask if she and her daughter should now be brought to Ireland. …
    5 replies 11 retweets 29 likes
    Undo
  14. Retweeted
    Jul 18

    Syrian Christians Plead With US as Turkey Prepares for Possible Attack | CBN News

    1 reply 35 retweets 52 likes
    Undo
  15. Jul 18

    Interesting thread on another minority in Northern Syria.

    Issa Ibrahim is a man of Chechen descent living in Ras al-Ayn in Syria. Pictured behind him is Dzokhar Dudayev, the president of the Chechen Republic in the 1990s.
    Show this thread
    5 likes
    Undo
  16. Jul 18

    Here's an infograph the kurds put together about the repatriation of foreign isis fighters. Ireland is in the same rank as states refusing to repatriate and stripping citizenship.

    10 retweets 12 likes
    Undo
  17. Jul 18

    I spent the last two weeks in Syria and Iraq for . I interviewed isis women in camps, the women guarding them and the yazidis now living in tent cities in Iraq.

    This Tweet is unavailable.
    4 replies 7 retweets 22 likes
    Undo
  18. Retweeted
    Jul 15

    "We are mujahideen women & a ticking time bomb" Group of women in Al Hawl Camp, Syria, urge ISIS leader Al Baghdadi to reestablish caliphate. In 9-min video group say they would rather die under bombs & machine guns than live among enemies & threaten to avenge their internment

    14 replies 95 retweets 80 likes
    Show this thread
    Show this thread
    Undo
  19. Retweeted
    Jul 16

    ,s Women raise the flag organization in the camp of

    3 replies 8 retweets 13 likes
    Undo
  20. Retweeted
    Jul 15

    Today ten brave families went back to Til Azer, one of Yazidi most southern town adjunct to Sunni areas. The Yazidis should not abondon their land for their enemies. The world, and should help them return with dignity & empowered.

    3 replies 18 retweets 57 likes
    Undo

@normcos hasn't Tweeted yet.

Loading seems to be taking a while.

Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.