France has returned 35 minors and 16 mothers who lived in jihadist camps in Syria after the fall of the Islamic State, the French Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
“Today, France returned to its territory 35 French minors who were in camps in northeast Syria,” the ministry said in a statement. This process also includes the return of 16 mothers from the same camps,” noting that mothers have been handed over to judicial authorities and minors have been handed over to childcare services.
These minors are added to 126 children whose parents have joined the fighting in ISIS-controlled lands and have been returned to France since 2016. Before the recent repatriation, there were about 200 minors and 80 mothers in Kurdish-controlled camps in northeast Syria with “appalling” living conditions, according to the UN.