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France tries five for kidnapping journalists in Syria

France tries five for kidnapping journalists in Syria
France tries five for kidnapping journalists in Syria

2025-02-17 16:00:02 - From: Al monitor


Five men went on trial in France on Monday charged with holding four French journalists hostage for the Islamic State jihadist group in war-torn Syria more than a decade ago.

IS emerged in 2013 in the chaos that followed the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, slowly gaining ground before declaring a caliphate in large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

The jihadists kidnapped a number of foreign journalists and aid workers before US-backed forces eventually defeated the group in 2019.