(AFP) France on Tuesday repatriated 10 women and 25 children being held in prison camps for suspected jihadists in northeast Syria, the latest return of citizens amid international pressure to bring back all detained nationals.
It was the fourth repatriation operation over the past year for relatives of suspected Islamic State group fighters in Syria and Iraq, the foreign ministry said.
The French government long refused mass repatriations of the hundreds of French children detained in Kurdish-controlled camps, dealing with them on a case-by-case basis that rights groups criticised as deliberately slow.
The minors returned Tuesday will be handed over to child care services while the adults will be handed over to the relevant judicial authorities, the ministry said in a statement.
