Over 200 Moroccan Children Stranded in Syria and Iraq After ISIS Fall

According to this coordination, these children live in inhumane conditions (ill-treatment, lack of hygiene, lack of medical care...). In 2019, the Terre des Hommes (TH) Association, a child welfare organization, had announced the death of 371 children in the region due to the harsh living conditions. Morocco is one of the countries that has welcomed some of these children of jihadists. But the authorities of the country apparently have not decided anything about the repatriation of the 203 Moroccan children still detained in Syria and Iraq since the fall of the Islamic State (IS).

According to Abdellah Rami, a specialist in jihadist groups, interviewed by the newspaper Libération, there is a certain fear and doubt regarding the return of these children. "Indeed, many wonder whether these children should be completely separated from their families or whether they should be repatriated with their mothers only and leave their fathers where they are. The most complicated questions since they raise several legal and practical constraints," he explained.

And to specify: "For the Moroccan fighters of Daesh, there is no question of breaking with the thought and ideology of this terrorist nebula. Nor are they ready to provide information to the Moroccan security services or to serve prison sentences. Few have returned to Morocco. They are mostly individual and isolated cases".