Lisa Smith, the Irish woman being held in a Syrian refugee camp, has said she wants to come home.

It is understood Ms Smith, who is originally from Dundalk in Co Louth, travelled to Syria three years ago and now has a two-year-old child.

She is now being held at the Al Hawl refugee camp on the Syrian border with Iraq.

In an interview with The Irish Mail on Sunday, Lisa Smith denied fighting for so-called Islamic State or ever owning or using a gun while there.

She said: "No, I didn't do anything, I never even owned a rifle.

"I think anyone that knows me ... they know me, that I wouldn't pick up the weapon and fight and stuff like that. I didn't do it, I didn't own a rifle, I didn't teach them anything."

Ms Smith has previously served as a Private in the Irish Defence Forces, having joined at 19 years old.

She also served in the Air Corps, working for a time on the Government jet.

The Irish Mail on Sunday reports that Ms Smith confirmed she married a British man while in Syria and said he died in the past three months.

Ms Smith told the newspaper she wants to go back to her country and that her daughter is her "number one priority".

When asked if she would travel to such a state again, Ms Smith said: "No, never, never, never."

She added: "I just ran, ran with the crowd like I always do. Ask my mum, I run with the crowd all the time. And that's what I did. I didn't listen to anyone, I didn't take any advice, I just ran. And I wish I didn't. I wish I had just took my time."

Ms Smith said she does not think she should be put on trial, but said she has nothing to hide.

Security analyst and former army officer Declan Power said "new ground will need to be broken", when attempting to resettle Ms Smith back into Ireland.

Speaking on RTÉ's This Week programme, he said the Government would need to get a full rundown on her contacts and associations before she left the country.

He said they will need to be sure she was not associating with any radical elements directly in Ireland and find out her habits and routines when she left and went to Tunisia and Syria.

Mr Power said it would be difficult to try to stand up her activities in Syria, although he believes she did not have a significant role there.

He said: "This seems like [she] was a particularly naive woman who made a number of life-altering choices that have had an effect not just on herself but on her child. How do we resettle somebody like that appropriately back into this State?"

He said it is not just a security issue, more so Ireland now needs to be better at recognising the seeds of radicalisation and extremism, although he does not think it is much of a threat here.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said today it would not be commenting further on Ms Smith's case.