Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
Turkish authorities have detained at least three French women on suspicion of Daesh links in a region on the Syrian border while they were trying to illegally cross the border.
State news agency Anadolu reported that the women along with nine children were stopped in the border province of Kilis on Thursday. The captured French citizens were sought by Interpol and identified by their initials JC, CA and MD.
A security source said that JC referred to Jennifer Clain is closely linked to Daesh masterminds, who claimed responsibility for the assaults that hit the Bataclan nightclub and other Paris locations in November 2015. She is married to Kevin Gonot, a French citizen sentenced to death in Iraq last May for his role in Daesh.
Nearly 120 people were killed on November 13, 2015, after being held hostage by gunmen at the Bataclan concert hall in central Paris. Scores of people were reportedly killed in other attacks across Paris.
At least a dozen foreign members of Daesh have recently been arrested by Turkish forces and transferred to immigration authorities, awaiting expulsion from Turkey.
In the first years after the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Turkey was the main point of entry for foreign fighters seeking to join foreign-backed militant groups. Ankara later tightened border controls and began widespread arrests and extraditions, especially after a spate of devastating Daesh assaults in Turkey.
In recent years, Daesh terrorists have carried out a series of gun and bomb attacks in Turkey.
Back in October 2015, twin bombings targeted a pro-Kurdish peace rally in the capital Ankara, killing over 100 people and injuring more than 500. The government put the blame on Daesh terrorists.
Turkey has stepped up anti-terror operations against Daesh’s network inside the country in the last couple of years, arresting many suspected terrorists and busting several terror cells across the country.
In July last year, Turkish security forces arrested dozens of people suspected of being foreign members of Daesh in an array of counter-terrorism operations across Istanbul.
Daesh, which once held large swaths in Syria and Iraq, has lost all of its urban bastions in both Arab countries, thanks to constant counter-terror operations carried out by their armies. However, remnants of Daesh conduct sporadic attacks against government troops and civilians alike in the war-torn countries.
In recent months, thousands of Daesh terrorists have fled their bases after Syrian army troops liberated Syrian cities, towns, and villages from militants and terrorists.
In April, Panos Moumtzis, who is the UN regional coordinator for Syria, called on countries to take responsibility for their nationals, including thousands of children of Daesh fighters, who are stuck at a camp controlled by US-backed militants in northeast Syria.
Several governments have been grappling with the problem of what to do with captured fighters from their country, the women who married them and their children. Britain revoked the citizenship of a teenager who left at 15 to join Daesh in Syria, while Austria and Switzerland have said they will not help bring home adults who joined Daesh.
But Moumtzis said countries had a legal responsibility, especially for children, many of whom were born in Daesh camps.
According to the UN children’s agency UNICEF, about 3,000 foreign children from 43 countries are housed at the al-Hol camp alone, which has taken in most of the people fleeing territories once held by Daesh.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups, wreaking havoc in the country.
