Hague family flees NL to join ISIS

The municipality of The Hague reports that a family from the city traveled to Syria at the start of the month to join the Islamic State (IS). This family is part of a larger exodus of Dutch families who leave The Netherlands for Syria or Iraq in hopes to be part of the caliphate declared by IS, De Volkskrant reports. Sources tell the Volkskrant that the family from The Hague includes Mousa I., his wife and his child. The municipality says that it never reports on individual cases. The Hague family is joining several other families, including two from Amstersfort and Hilversum, who have allied themselves with IS. Mayor Pieter Broertjes of Hilversum writes of the family to the municipal council. Several of the children of this family are at school age, according to the letter. The school board in Hilversum has been informed. Te family from Amersfoort has already left for Syria on the 31st of August. This concerns Jermaine W., an ex-suspect of the Hofstad group, his wife Meryam and three children. They left two days after the Huizen families were apprehended on suspicion of intent to travel to Syria. The two sets of parents from Huizen were arrested last month, but three suspects were released. Their children, who had been placed in foster care, were released last week. Yesterday, the last remaining suspect, Mourad M., was also released due to lack of evidence to keep him in detention, his lawyer Michiel Pestman tells the Volkskrant.