Paris: A diplomatic source said on Friday that France has repatriated all of the French women and children who desired to leave the extremist prison camps run by the Kurds in Syria and will no longer arrange any additional flights.
On the most recent state-sponsored flight, which was in response to international pressure on nations to repatriate their citizens who visited areas under Daesh control between 2014 and 2019, an additional 10 women and 25 children arrived back in France on Tuesday.
"There will not be any more of these types of operations," a diplomatic source told AFP on Friday, requesting anonymity. "We have repatriated all of the mothers who wanted to leave Syria."
Also Read: The US will give Ukraine cluster munitions as part of a new military aid package
According to the source, 169 children and 57 women have been flown back to France since IS lost all of its territory in 2019; however, some have turned down the offer.
About 80 women, according to the source, had explicitly stated they did not want to go back to their home country. "Some very radicalised mothers have explicitly said they want to stay in Syria," the source added.
Also Read: The ICC's chief prosecutor promises to step up efforts to swiftly bring Rohingya justice
The children of those who return to France are either placed in the care of family or the state, and all of them are subject to legal proceedings, including terror charges.
For Western nations, especially France, which has experienced a wave of terrorist attacks since 2015, the issue of the return of the families of Daesh fighters who were killed or captured has been contentious.
The French government has long opposed mass returns of wives and children, handling each case individually, which rights organisations have criticised as being purposefully slow.
