Three
British orphans whose Islamist fighter parents died in
Syria are being returned to the
UK, the foreign secretary has confirmed.
The announcement by Dominic Raab follows several MPs and charities calling called for the children to be repatriated after the
BBC discovered the three siblings, believed to be from
London, stranded in a camp in northern Syria.
The parents of Amira, Heba, and Hamza - who are 10, eight and six - joined so-called
Islamic State (IS) five years ago and were killed during bombing raids.
Raab last month told MPs that as long as there was “no security threat”, children rescued from the fighting in northern Syria could be allowed to return home.
On Thursday evening, he confirmed that the first children were now in the process of being returned to the UK.
Last month the Guardian reported that Home Secretary Priti Patel blocked an operation to repatriate orphans trapped in formerly IS-held territory.Today, 21 November 2019, three British orphans from
ISIS parents were handed over to a delegation representing the British Foreign Ministry, headed by Mr. Martin Longden, according to an official repatriation document signed by the Selfe Administration and the British Government. pic.twitter.com/AgsfzQVpcX— Dr Abdulkarim Omar (@abdulkarimomar1) November 21, 2019In a statement, Raab said: “These innocent, orphaned children should never have been subjected to the horrors of war.
“We have facilitated their return home because it was the right thing to do.
“Now they must be allowed the privacy and given the support to return to a normal life.”
On Thursday, Dr Abdulkarim Omar, head of foreign relations in the Kurdish-led area of northern Syria, tweeted a photo of himself with the UK’s special representative for Syria Martin Longden, saying “three British orphans from ISIS parents were handed over to a delegation representing the British Foreign Ministry”.
In a previous Commons debate in October, former
Brexit Secretary David Davis said vulnerable British children risked “turning into terrorists” if they were not brought home from Syria.
Davis told MPs that three of the estimated 60 British children thought to be in the region were orphans, adding that those who had not been orphaned “still deserve the United Kingdom’s protection”.Related... Three Orphaned Siblings In Syria Could Come To UK, Dominic Raab Says Was Trump's Al-Baghdadi Raid Situation Room Picture Staged? ‘It Was Like Watching A Movie’: 7 Astonishing Moments From Trump's Al-Baghdadi Press Conference