Russia repatriates 34 children of ISIS families from NE Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Russia announced on Sunday the repatriation of 34 children of Islamic State (ISIS) families from camps in northeast Syria.
The Office of Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, said in a statement an airplane carrying 34 Russian children arrived from Syria in Moscow on Saturday.
The Commissioner said in a press conference after the plane landed that all the children were feeling well and would be subjected to medical check before sending them to see their relatives in 10 various regions in Russia.
The Russian official added they would continue to work on returning the children from Syria as another group is expected to be repatriated. She noted they issued documents for more than 150 children to examine the possibility of repatriation with the “Kurdish side” [the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES)].
The repatriated group of children included 23 boys and 11 girls ranging between the ages of 4 and 16, according to the statement.
Since 2018, Russia repatriated 513 children from the Middle East, including 382 children from Syria.