The outlines of this "humanitarian, judicial and penitentiary" cooperation, to be implemented "very soon" by Paris and Baghdad on ISIS fighters, remain unclear.
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The Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, dispatched Thursday, October 17 in Iraq to deliver a message of solidarity to Baghdad and friendship to all Kurds, said: there would be a "France's desire" shared by the actors of the region, confronted with the recent plunge into the chaos of North-East Syria. But France, what can she do? His allies of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) find themselves abandoned by Washington in the face of the Turkish invasion.
Released by the pillar of the international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) organization after five years of alliance, they are reduced to calling for help the Damascus regime with which Paris has not spoken for eight years. A 'Cease-fire' Uncertain was announced from Ankara on Thursday (October 17th) by US Vice President Mike Pence and Turkish President Erdogan, without French diplomats ever being consulted at all.
No concrete answer
Even more serious from the point of view of Paris, the fate of French jihadists and their children detained or held in the north-east of Syria still seems unresolved, while the risk of escapes grows every hour. After an official trip to Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of Syrian Kurdistan, Le Drian announced on Friday a new cooperation between France and Iraq which should be implemented. " very soon ".
This cooperation on the shutters "Humanitarian, judicial and penitentiary" concerned the French IS fighters considered justiciable in the Iraqi courts. This includes, theoretically, the French jihadists currently held in Syria. But on Thursday in Baghdad, Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Ali Alhakim insisted that only Iraqi "Having fought in Iraq". Despite the imminent nature of this announced cooperation, its contours remain desperately unclear.
Refusing to talk about transfers from Syria to Iraq, which would be illegal from the point of view of international law if France organized them herself, the minister's entourage made no concrete answer as to how French members of the jihadist organization detained in northeastern Syria could be brought to justice in Iraq. Is it about moving them to Iraqi territory? If so, which actor would be able to do it? What would be the involvement of France, FDS, the Syrian regime in such an operation?
