France returns 35 citizens from camp in Syria housing thousands linked to Islamic State extremists

PARIS (AP) — France has returned 35 people — 10 women and 25 minors — from a sprawling camp in northeast Syria housing thousands of people linked to Islamic State extremists. Al-Hol Camp — named after a town near the Iraqi border — holds about 51,000 people, including many widows, wives and children of Islamic State fighters. French citizens made up the largest European contingent of people who joined the Islamic State at the height of the extremist group’s reach. With the group’s territorial defeat in 2019, France has brought home women and children in waves. All 10 of the adults who returned and a 17-year-old girl were detained upon arrival or scheduled to go before a judge Tuesday.