France on Tuesday repatriated 10 women and 25 children who were held in prison camps for suspected jihadists in northeast Syria, the fourth such operation in a year, the foreign ministry said.

The ministry said in a statement that the minors would be handed over to child care services while the adults would be handed over to the relevant judicial authorities.

The French women had voluntarily gone to territories across Syria and Iraq then controlled by the so-called “Islamic State” jihadists. They were captured when the jihadist group was ousted from its self-declared “caliphate” in 2019.

The return of family members of jihadist fighters who were captured or killed has been a thorny issue for European countries, particularly France, which has been targeted by jihadist attacks.

In France, any adult who went to the Iraq-Syria zone and remained there is subject to legal proceedings. A year ago, France put an end to its “case by case” approach to repatriation, which had drawn condemnation from international bodies.

Sixteen women and 35 children were brought back to France during the first repatriation operation a year ago, followed in October by the return of 15 women and 40 children.

In January, the foreign ministry announced the repatriation of 15 women and 32 children, a few days after being condemned by the UN committee against torture, which said that in refusing to repatriate women and minors in Syria, France was violating the UN convention against torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.

The foreign ministry said on Tuesday that “France thanked the local administration in north-eastern Syria for its cooperation, which made this operation possible”.