The children were born between 2010 and 2019. One of them is an orphaned child of a Belgian father, states the country’s public prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw.
“These children were immediately taken into care by knowledgeable youth services and prosecutors,” he said at a press conference.
The fact that women and children could be led out of autonomy in northeastern Syria is due to the fact that the Belgian government last year took a decision to allow mothers who have clearly distanced themselves from extremist ideology and clearly expressed a desire to return, to do so.
Prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said there are few Belgian women left in Syria, and estimates that around 10-15 men are imprisoned in the country. Belgium is not trying to bring them home.
From 2012, a total of around 300 people traveled from Sweden to participate in the war in Syria and join violent pro-Islamist groups, mainly the terrorist organization IS.
About half of the Swedish IS supporters have returned.