Albania brings back Islamic State women and children, prime minister calls it ‘a very positive event’

ALBANIA: Yeah, what could possibly be the downside? Even if these people wage jihad in Europe, it most likely won’t be in Albania, so what’s the problem?

“Albania repatriates Islamic State women, children despite controversy,” by Stefan J. Bos, Vatican News, August 3, 2021:

After a long wait, five Albanian women and 14 children arrived in Albania from Syria’s notorious Al Hol camp.

The women had joined Islamic extremist groups fighting in Syria and Iraq. Flying from Lebanon, they were accompanied by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Interior Minister Bledi Cuci.In a statement, Rama called it “a very positive event” and pledged that in his words, “We shall not stop here.”

He made clear that the 19 women and children will be taken to a shelter in the western port city of Durres. There, police and social experts are making medical and psychological examinations. That is to be followed by a quarantine period, after which some may be allowed to rejoin their families.

Rama did not reveal whether the women would be prosecuted for possible war crimes and other atrocities. Sunday’s transportation of the women and children was the third effort to repatriate Albanians from the war-torn territories in Syria. In October last year, five Albanians were repatriated, while a child returned to the country a year earlier.

Authorities believe a few hundred Albanian men joined the Islamic State and other groups fighting in Syria and Iraq in the early 2010s. Many were killed, and their wives and children are stuck in Syrian camps….