Belgium Repatriates ISIS Wives and Children from Syrian Camp

According to "De Morgen", citing Kurdish media and a tweet from a French journalist, it is six women and ten children under the age of 12 who were taken care of on Friday morning by a Belgian delegation. Four of the mothers are from Brussels and two from Flanders, the newspaper specifies. It was the National Security Council (CNS) that decided, since March 3, that the operation should take place in the strictest secrecy, according to the details provided by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo to the Chamber.

The repatriation operation was criticized on Friday afternoon by MP Theo Francken (N-VA). "It’s no coincidence that the rescue operation is taking place after the last plenary session (of the Chamber) before the summer recess, which means we can’t question the government about it," he wrote.

"I also think the government is sending the wrong signal to victims of terrorism," added the nationalist MP. This is the first time that Belgium has repatriated adults from the Al-Hol - sometimes described as a "jihadist powder keg" and which houses Syrian, Iraqi but also European or Asian families - and Roj camps, controlled by Kurdish forces in Syria.