Date: Jan 30, 2019 Source: The Daily Star France set for influx of Syria militants to return to jail PARIS: France’s government is preparing for an influx of homegrown Islamist extremists with the departure of U.S. troops from Syria, saying Tuesday that anyone who left to fight for militants will go straight to prison. In an interview with BFM television, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said a handful of French militants had already returned and more would follow soon. Neither he nor France’s Foreign Ministry confirmed BFM’s report that as many as 130 could come back within weeks. “The Americans are leaving Syria. It’s important to keep that in mind,” Castaner said. “There are a certain number who are imprisoned because the Americans are there, and they will be freed. They will want to return to France.” The question of what to do with foreigners who joined Daesh (ISIS) has grown increasingly thorny as the U.S. departure looms. French militants made up the largest contingent of European recruits, and in 2015 and 2016 a Daesh cell of French and Belgian fighters who sneaked in from Turkey attacked Paris and Brussels. Britain refuses to take back citizens who joined the group and has stripped their citizenship. Other European countries have remained largely silent about the fate of men and women whom many see as a security threat. “These are people who have voluntarily joined a terrorist organization ... that has committed attacks in France and continues to threaten us,” France’s Foreign Ministry said. Castaner said all would be jailed immediately in France and face trial, but declined to provide details. Up to 1,700 French nationals are thought to have traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight alongside Islamic State between 2014-2018, according to government figures. Castaner denied that the government was softening its position. “It’s not a question of being taken back. If they come to France they will be incarcerated,” he said. Kurdish authorities in Syria have detained 900 foreign members of the group, and 4,000 family of Daesh members, according to Ilham Ahmed, a senior Syrian Kurdish official. Russia has taken some of the recruits back and jailed them. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there are at least 78 French women and children who had recently come out of the last stronghold of Daesh in eastern Syria. This is in addition to another 65 previously evacuated from other Daesh held areas and in Kurdish custody. It was not clear if Castaner was also speaking of civilians and families of Daesh members. Castaner said a small number had already returned to France, although it’s not clear whether they had voluntarily surrendered or were repatriated, or whether he meant fighters or their families. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 78 French women and children recently left the last stronghold of Daesh in eastern Syria. This is in addition to another 65 previously evacuated from other Daesh held areas and in Kurdish custody. In April, then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said French Special Forces had joined American troops in Syria. Trump shocked America’s allies in December by announcing the U.S., which heads up a coalition that has been carrying out airstrikes against Daesh since 2014, would withdraw its 2,000 remaining troops from Syria on the grounds that the militants had been “largely defeated.” The announcement came as a blow particularly to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces which have spearheaded the fight against Daesh on the ground. France fears that if the Kurdish forces are drawn into battle with Turkey in northeast Syria the foreign militants being held there could escape or be freed.