Kurds hand over 5 Belgian orphans from IS families
15 June, 2019
Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria on Thursday handed over five orphans born to families belonging to the Islamic State group to the Belgian authorities, an official said.
“At the request of the Belgium government, the self-administration of North and East Syria handed over on June 13th, 2019, five orphaned Belgian children from ISIS families to a delegation from the Belgium ministry of foreign affairs in the town of Ain Issa,” foreign affairs official Abdulkarim Omar wrote on Twitter, using an alternative acronym for IS.
Belgium earlier said it would bring six orphans home from Kurdish-controlled camps in Syria after the deaths of their jihadist parents. It was not immediately clear why only five had been handed over to the Belgian delegation.
“These are children who were born in our country and who today no longer have parents,” Belgian Finance Minister Alexander De Croo told VRT public radio.
Belgium is one of several European countries wrestling with the dilemma of what to do about citizens trapped in Syria following the defeat of the IS.
Some are reticent to accept captured extremist fighters, but the cases of children and noncombatant wives have proved more complicated for Western authorities.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said Belgium has a signed deal to allow returnees to transit through Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region. The bulk of IS fighters and family members who were captured when its so-called caliphate collapsed are being held in Syria in Kurdish-run camps.
De Croo said that four of the six orphans expected to return were older than 10, but that none were suspects.
“These are children who were alone in the camps, who have no support. There’s no question of taking back parents who chose to join terrorist groups,” he said.
“These children had no choice,” he added.
According to Belgian media reports, 50 to 60 Belgian children under 18 are in the camps of Al-Hol, Roj, and Ain Issa in Syria.
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