Albania says repatriation of 5 from Syria a 'great step'

The repatriation of four children and a woman related to Albanian nationals who joined Islamic extremist groups in Syria “is a great step” to be followed by more repatriations Albania's prime minister said Tuesday.

Edi Rama would not reveal the number of Albanian nationals still in Syria but he said they have been identified and “we are well prepared to take the next step and to get back the other children.”

“We have already made the right step to document everything and now we need to do the right push and I’m very optimistic that this will come very soon,” he said.

Rama spoke to The Associated Press at Beirut airport before flying out with the group of five who were repatriated from the Syrian camp of al-Hol in the war-ravaged country's northeast.

He said the group were now “in a new phase of their life” and would require health and mental care to deal with their trauma and reintegrate and resume their normal life.

The return of the five to the Albanian capital of Tirana was arranged after a year of negotiations, Rama said earlier. Relatives who remained in Albania say 52 children are in the camps but Rama could not give an exact number.

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.

Rama said Lebanon's intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim played a key role in the repatriation. The official has been instrumental in negotiations that secured the release of hostages from Syria.