France prepares to repatriate children of IS militants in Syria

France is planning to bring back children in Syria belonging to families of suspected French Islamist militants, French officials said.

However their mothers will not be repatriated, but left to be prosecuted by local authorities.

European countries have been working out how to deal with IS fighters in Syria and Iraq who attempt to return, fearing some will perpetuate the terrorist threat on home soil through radicalising or facilitating attacks.

France is particularly wary, having suffered deadly bombings and shootings over the years claimed by Islamic State terrorists.

Current government policy stipulates fighters and their wives are not allowed back in France, but now Paris has to decide on how to deal with minors.

Read more: How will Europe deal with returning Islamic State group fighters?

"French authorities are now entering an active phase of evaluation on the possibility of repatriating minors," a French official told Reuters.

There are said to be around 150 children of French families in Syria, the majority under the age of six.

Paris will consider them on a case-by-case basis and the first children could reach the country by the end of the year, though the repatriation is dependent on whether their mothers will allow them to be taken away.
 
France is concerned that if these minors are left in the war-ravaged country, they could eventually also become militants.

"It is in the best interest of the children," said one of the officials.

France in December 2017 repatriated three children of a French woman who was sentenced to life imprisonment by an Iraqi court over her allegiance to the Islamic State group.

She kept her youngest child with her in detention in Iraq.

However in Kurdish controlled northern Syria, where the children have been located, there is no functioning legal system so the cases are predicted to be much more complicated.

French Defence Minister Florence Parly has previously said that "if the jihadists perish in this fight, I would say that's for the best".