France repatriates 40 children, 15 women from Syria camps

After much delay, France has repatriated 40 children and 15 women from camps in Syria holding family members of suspected Daesh (Islamic State) terrorists, the Foreign Ministry confirmed on October 20.

It marked the largest such repatriation in three months and came a week after a European rights court condemned France over its refusal to return two women detained in Syria, Daily Sabah reports.

"The minors have been transferred to child aid services," the ministry said in a statement. "The adults have been handed to judicial authorities."

It marked the largest such transfer since July when France, following pressure from campaigners, returned 35 children and 16 mothers from the Syrian camps.

The French government had long refused mass repatriations of the hundreds of French children detained in camps, controlled by terrorist groups like the YPG.

France's dealing with them on a case-by-case basis that rights groups criticized as deliberately slow.

Last week, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Paris over its refusal to return two women and said it should promptly re-examine the request by the women's parents to let them come home.

But it did not issue a blanket ruling that France return all citizens held in Syria since the fall of Daesh, as sought by rights groups and Western allies including the United States.

Western countries have faced a dilemma over how to handle their citizens detained in Syria since the end of military operations against the terrorist group there in 2019.

Thousands of people from Europe decided to join the group as fighters, often taking their wives and children to live in Daesh's self-declared "caliphate" in territory conquered in Iraq and Syria.

Before July, France had prioritized its security over welfare concerns for the detained, pointing to a series of attacks by Daesh terrorists, including the November 2015 assaults on Paris that left 130 people dead.