The French Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday that it has repatriated 15 women and 32 children who were in refugee camps in northwestern Syria.
«France today carried out an operation to return to the national territory French children and mothers who were in camps in northeastern Syria,» reads a statement from French diplomacy.
The ministerial portfolio has pointed out that the minors have been handed over «to the services in charge of alimony and will be subject to medical and social follow-up».
Meanwhile, the adult women have been handed over to the competent judicial authorities, according to the French Foreign Ministry.
The office also thanked the local Syrian administration for its cooperation, which «made this operation possible».
The U.S. State Department urged the international community to repatriate its nationals held in family camps run by the Islamic State jihadist organization in Syria, after Spain was the first country to bring back two women married to jihadists with several minors in their care.
Following this, the Government of Canada agreed to repatriate six women and 13 children, under a confidential pact, with no fixed date of return.
The latest report by the NGO Human Rights Watch, published last December, estimates that more than 40,000 foreigners, mostly children, remain in the camps under threat of Turkish artillery attacks, disease and violent attacks by Islamic extremists and Islamic State sleeper cells in these camps.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
