They were held in IDP camps in Syria. Ten children of French jihadists were repatriated to France during the night of Sunday to Monday, announced the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
No details were given on their place of arrival in France, or on the circumstances under which they left Syria. "France today proceeded to the return of ten young French minors, orphans and humanitarian cases, who were in camps in north-eastern Syria," he said in a statement. "These children have been handed over to the French judicial authorities, are now the subject of special medical monitoring and care by social services," said only the Quai d'Orsay.
300 children still detained in camps
Since the Islamic State group collapsed in March 2019, France has brought back 28 children from Syria: five in March 2019, twelve in June 2019 and a girl suffering from a heart defect in April. Paris "thanked" the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration in north-eastern Syria for its "cooperation" in this new repatriation, stressing that it had acted "in the light of the situation of these particularly vulnerable young children and within the framework of the authorizations given by local officials ”.
According to the collective Familles unies, which brings together relatives of these children in France, some 300 children of French jihadists are held in tents in the camps of Al-Hol and Roj in north-eastern Syria.
A less easy repatriation for adults
The collective regularly requests the French authorities to organize the repatriation of these children, as well as that of their mothers. France is reluctant to bring back the 150 or so adults, men and women, whom it considers to be accomplices of Daesh and whose judgment it wishes to see on the spot.
The situation is also complicated for children who are not orphans, for whom the mother's authorization is required. Kurdish authorities claim to detain around 12,000 foreigners, 4,000 women and 8,000 children in three camps for displaced people in the northeast, the vast majority in Al-Hol.
They have often called on the countries concerned to repatriate their nationals, saying that they cannot keep them for much longer. A call also regularly relayed by the United States which is concerned about the risk of escape and dispersion of the jihadists.
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