France nabs Takfiri recruiter in Nice

France has arrested a man suspected of recruiting European forces for Takfiri militants fighting against the Syrian government, the French Interior Ministry says.

The 22-year-old man was taken into custody after his arrest at the Nice airport on Saturday, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement on Sunday.

The man was accused of paying a 16-year-old girl to fly to Turkey so as to cross the border into Syria.

Asked why she was visiting Turkey, the girl mentioned her grandmother in Istanbul, an answer not convincing to the Turkish Airlines, whose officials contacted the French border police.

French security services contacted the girl’s father, who said the family had no relatives in Turkey and he did not have any idea about her plans.

An unidentified source said the girl’s father “objected to her leaving the country”, while another source said that her family, which lives in the southeastern city of Nice, was “taken by complete surprise” by her plans.

Cazeneuve hailed the apprehension of “alleged recruiter, whose role remains to be determined but will be explained before the judges.”

Earlier in the day, Damascus slammed the French government for its role in Syria’s crisis.

Leaders of the Western countries have expressed concerns over possible attacks by the ISIL Takfiri terrorists, many of whom have moved to Syria from such countries.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011 with ISIL Takfiri terrorists currently controlling parts of it mostly in the east.

The Western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — are reportedly supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

More than 191,000 people have been killed in over three years of fighting in the war-ravaged country, says the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), calling the figure a probable “underestimate of the real total number of people killed.”

NT/MAM/AS