Children of French jihadists found in Syrian orphanage
Three French children living in an orphanage in Damascus could be repatriated to France now that the regime has changed in Syria. An RFI investigation has identified the children as orphans of jihadists who were killed during the international coalition’s bombing of the Islamic State armed group.
Three children, aged six, 11 and 12, have been living since 2019 in an orphanage in Damascus, whose director was prohibited from having direct contact with their family in France by the regime of Bashir al-Assad.
With the change in regime, there is hope that the children could be brought to France.
“Before she died, the mother had contacts with the childrens’ aunt, but I was not allowed to have any [contact],” the director of the orphanage, who asked to remain anonymous, told RFI.
“If I said anything, I would have ended up in the Saydnaya prison. The only way I was allowed to contact the childrens’ family was through the Red Crescent, which was risky.”
Nevertheless, the children were able to speak to their aunt every week.
They were brought to the orphanage in 2019 by Syrian intelligence officers, which gave little information about what happened to them.
Raids
The orphanage director learned, through the children themselves, that their parents, French jihadists, had been killed during the bombings of the Islamic state in the Deir Ezzor region.
Read more on RFI English
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