By LLAZAR SEMINI, Associated Press

TIRANA, Albania (AP) – Albania is repatriating five Albanian women and 14 children from the Syrian Al Hol camp who were linked to Albanians who joined extremist Islamist groups fighting in Syria and Iraq, the prime minister said on Saturday. from the country.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Interior Minister Bledi Cuci were in Beirut to meet Lebanese General Abass Ibrahim, who played a key role in the repatriation efforts, as well as intelligence services from other countries.

“The good news is the 14 children and five women (who were taken) from the hell camp,” Rama said. “I am here to take children and women and bring them back to our homeland tomorrow. “

Rama said that the Albanian Interior Ministry and other intelligence institutions are closely cooperating with the Lebanese authorities and countries on the repatriation. He did not say whether the women’s husbands were alive or dead or whether any of the women will face terrorism charges upon their return.

“Until the last Albanian, we will do everything possible to send them back to their homeland,” he said.

This is the third attempt to repatriate Albanians from the combatant territories in Syria. In October last year, five Albanians were repatriated and an Albanian child was repatriated a year earlier.

A few hundred Albanian men joined the Islamic State and other fighting groups in Syria and Iraq in the early 2010s. Many have been killed, and their wives and children are trapped in Syrian camps.

Relatives in Albania say about 30 other Albanian children and women are in Syrian camps. But Rama doubted that this could be the exact number, “because the information is updated daily.”

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