AKIPRESS.COM - France is in discussions about repatriating Islamic State fighters and their families, a policy shift prompted by the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, The Washington Post  reports.

The French government confirmed this past week that French jihadists detained in Syrian camps may be returned to France.

“We are exploring all options in order to prevent these potentially dangerous individuals from escaping or dispersing,” Jean-Yves Le Drian, France’s foreign minister, told reporters. “If the forces detaining these French fighters decide to deport them to France, they would be immediately handed over to the judicial authorities.

“These individuals voluntarily joined a terrorist organization that is fighting in the Levant, has committed attacks in France and is continuing to pose a threat to us.”

The French government wouldn’t confirm how many ­people may be repatriated, but French media reports, citing government sources, have placed the figure between 120 and 130.

Nicole Belloubet, France’s justice minister, told France’s RTL radio that as many as 75 percent of those coming back would likely be younger than age 7.

France had earlier agreed to repatriate the children of Islamic State fighters on a case-by-case basis. But the government had been content to leave the incarceration of French jihadists to local authorities, fearing the political consequences of taking back someone who later commits an attack.

The Islamic State’s territory was a beacon for would-be Islamist militants from around the world who wanted to wage war and live according to ultraconservative Islamic precepts. Thousands of people streamed toward Syria, and there was a particularly strong influx from European countries, where citizens could buy budget tourist flights to Turkey and then sneak across the border.

As many as 1,910 French citizens joined the Islamic State, according to statistics from the Soufan Center, a security research institute.