BELGIUM TO BRING HOME ITS ISIL CHILDREN

Belgium plans to bring home dozens of children of ISIL members stranded in Syria, in one of the first nations in western Europe to do so.

Ministers have identified 42 children as being those of Belgian jihadists, according to aides of Philippe Goffin, the country’s foreign minister, and they are already working to repatriate them.

The mothers, however, will remain in the camps, which are run by western allies the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, and would have to agree to be separated.

“Obviously, mothers must agree,” Goffin said, speaking on the sidelines of meetings at the United Nations, where his country currently chairs the Security Council.

Most European governments have refused the return of their nationals from the camps in northern Syria. Britain has taken the hardest line — revoking the citizenship of suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) members, leaving their children in limbo.

According to Save the Children, there are around 2030 British women and 60 of their children in the camps.

So far, Britain has taken back only three children — the orphan siblings of jihadist parents. Goffin declined to set a timetable for Belgium’s plans, but said an operation could be organized with other countries in a similar situation such as France.