On Tuesday, France repatriated around fifty jihadist women and their children.

However, there are still around 100 French women and nearly 250 children in jihadist prison camps in Syria, Laurent Nunez, intelligence and counterterrorism coordinator, said on Wednesday.

Before the repatriation "overnight from Monday to Tuesday" of 35 minors and 16 mothers, there were "120 women and nearly 290 children" French detained in camps in northeastern Syria controlled by the Kurds, said Laurent Nunez on RMC.

He specified that the “security” criterion would be “increasingly” considered to decide on possible future similar operations, while NGOs and families want the repatriation of all and the end of the “case by case” policy.

An “increasingly unstable” zone

“Whenever we can, we will carry out repatriation operations for humanitarian and increasingly secure reasons, which was also taken into account during the last operation, because the area is increasingly unstable,” said declared Laurent Nunez.

“There are threats perhaps of Turkish operations, the EI (Islamic State) which is reconstituting itself in the Syrian desert and plans to go and free these women and children”, he detailed.

“For the safety of our fellow citizens, perhaps it is better to have [these women and children] under control more than to see them in an area where they can enjoy themselves in nature,” added Laurent Nunez.

The terrorist threat from abroad

He also recalled that "320 adults and 150 children" from Syria and Iraq had been handed over "in recent years" to the French authorities by Turkey, where they had been arrested.

Finally, although the terrorist threat is essentially "endogenous", the coordinator of intelligence and the fight against terrorism called for "not to neglect" that "projected" from the outside.

“IS still has inclinations, we see that it is rebuilding, we know that some jihadists who were in the area have returned to their country, to the Maghreb or the Balkans, without necessarily being prosecuted, that continues to constitute for us threats,” he added.

Company

Jihadist Emilie König among women repatriated Tuesday from Syrian camps

World

Syria: 35 minors and 16 mothers repatriated from jihadist camps by France

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