President Donald Trump's announcement that the United States was going to be pulling out its military from Syria has resulted in a growing concern within the region. Militaries from other countries are now scrambling to also reorganize their efforts given that there will be a huge power vacuum in the country once the United States exits. France has announced that it is also making plans to end its military activities in the country. France is particularly worried about how it will deal with the hundreds of captured foreign ISIS detainees is currently has in its custody.
French authorities have revealed that they are implementing new strategies to deal with the United States' exit from the country. Its military is also considering immediately airlifting all of its captured ISIS fighters and those under Syrian custody to French soil. France currently reportedly has around 130 foreign ISIS fighters, which the country's military has taken prisoner during various operations. President Emmanuel Macron has expressed his disappointment in Trump's decision to withdraw from the country, but he has assured the public that France will continue its military operations in Syria at least until the end of the year.
France previously launched its own war on terror, called Operation Chammal, which saw a total of 3,200 French military personnel operating in Syria. The country wanted to support other country's campaign against ISIS. The terrorist group has conducted numerous attacks on different French cities in the past. France coordinated its military efforts with its allies, including the United States and the United Kingdom, with different operations in both Iraq and Syria.
Aside from the ISIS fighters found across the Middle Eastern countries, France and its allies also had to deal with thousands of radicalized foreign nationals who have traveled to the Islamic state to fight for ISIS. According to Interpol, there are an estimated 40,000 foreign nationals linked to the terrorist group. Hundreds of these radicalized fighters have already been captured by the United States and its allies.
Since 2012, the majority of the terrorist attacks on French soil had been carried out by French citizens who were radicalized by ISIS. The French Foreign Ministry previously revealed that a number of foreign terrorist fighters were under the custody of the Syrian Democratic Forces. It did not confirm how many of those detainees are French nationals. France is apparently now looking at different options to get those detainees back to French soil, where they will be charged and put on trial. France fears that the United State's withdrawal may make the liberated areas unstable, which could result in the prisoners dispersing or escaping.
