More than 600 European Islamic State children detained in northeast Syria

More than 600 children born to Daesh members who are European nationals are being detained with their mothers in camps run by Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria, a new Belgian study has revealed.

“Between 610 and 680 children of European Union citizens are currently detained with their mothers in the Roj and Al-Hol camps in northeastern Syria,” said experts on militant affairs at the Egmont Institute in Brussels, Touma Renard and Rik Coolsaet, in their study.

The experts added that “these children have been detained since 2019 with their mothers, a majority of whom had been fighting with ISIS [Daesh].”

“The French top the list of those detained with 150 to 200 adults, and 200 to 250 children, followed by the Germans, Dutch, Swedes, Belgians and British,” the experts said.

“Today, with these European detainees, we are witnessing a similar situation of the Guantanamo detainees,” they said, calling to consider trying them before Kurdish courts.

“As for the children, they are victims of the choices of their parents, victims of war and the extremely difficult conditions in these camps, as well as victims of the inaction of European governments,” they added.

Source: Middle East Monitor