The Lost Children: France Takes Stock of Growing Jihadist Problem

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: More than 1,000 young people from France have joined extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, more than from any other European country. The recruits are no longer just coming from the margins of society.

Sometimes Séverine Mehault climbs the stairs to the second floor for no reason at all. She walks along the hallway, past her son's room and into her daughter's bedroom. Then the 40-year-old lies down on the bed, next to a white stuffed bunny, and closes her eyes for a moment, trying to understand why only one of her two daughters, 15-year-old Kenza, is still there -- and why Sahra has abandoned her.

Not much of Sahra is left in the room: her stuffed rabbit, a Koran in translation, a prayer book and a guide to the correct methods of bathing for Islamic women. The guide is a worn, pink brochure with small illustrations. Chapter 3 is titled: Instructions for Cleaning Your Ears.

There's a dish containing red nail polish, mascara and lip gloss, but Sahra hasn't worn makeup in almost two years. After turning 15 at the time, she converted to Islam.

She left France on March 11, 2014 to joint [sic] the jihadists in Syria. The family doesn't know where she is exactly, or which terrorist group she has joined. » | Julia Amalia Heyer | Thursday, November 06, 2014

France Proposes Anti-terrorist Travel Bans

BBC: The French government has proposed six-month travel bans to stop citizens travelling to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside Islamist militants.

A new offence of creating an "individual terrorist enterprise", designed to counter the threat of "lone wolves", would also be established.

Government officials say that two or three young Muslims leave France every day to join Islamist groups abroad.

There are fears they will eventually pose a threat to France itself.

A French citizen arrested for the killing of four people at the Brussels Jewish Museum in May, Mehdi Nemmouche, had returned from Syria, after being radicalised in prison.

Another French-born jihadist, Mohamed Merah, killed seven people in Toulouse in 2012 before being shot by police. His victims were three paratroopers as well as three children and a teacher at a Jewish school.

EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gille de Kerchove announced on Tuesday that interior ministers from nine countries had adopted an action plan to identify people travelling to Syria and stop them falling into terrorism on their return.

The countries that signed up to the plan are Belgium, France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands » | Wednesday, June 09, 2014

France Unveils Plan to Prevent Radicalisation

GULF TIMES: Hoping to thwart would-be jihadists from following the hundreds of French nationals who have travelled to Syria to fight alongside fundamentalist groups, the French government unveiled yesterday a raft of measures to create an "anti-jihadist" plan.

The plan of action presented by Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve aims to "dissuade, prevent and punish" the radicalisation of troubled French youths.

The government estimates that around 300 French nationals or residents are currently enlisted with jihadist groups in Syria, with a further 130 en route to the country and another 130 having already returned.

Twenty-five French people have died in the conflict.

The movement, which has swept along teens as young as 14 – some of whom are recent converts to Islam – has accelerated in recent months, according to the interior ministry.

Didier Francois, one of the four French journalists who were released from captivity in Syria at the weekend after being held for 10 months by a jihadist group, said some of his captors spoke French.

France is particularly fearful of the threat such people pose to national security upon their return. » | DPA/Paris | Wednesday, April 23, 2014