Dutch special envoy on mission to patriate IS children

The Kurdish-led administration in Syria's northeast handed over on Saturday to the Netherlands a Dutch woman, her two young sons, and a Dutch girl, who lived in a camp for families of alleged Islamic State militants.

A delegation from the Netherlands led by special envoy to Syria Emiel de Bont received the four in Qamishli city, at the Kurdish administration's offices.

The group will be taken home and Kurdish authorities say the adult woman faces no criminal charges by his administration.

The move was a small step to resolve a complicated issue for European and Middle Eastern countries- what to do with the thousands of their citizens who have traveled to territories held by IS militants in Syria and Iraq.

At a news conference organized for the handover, De Bont said the four had been living in a small settlement known as Roj camp, holding mostly western women who had travelled to Syria and Iraq, and their children.

"This is a very specific consular legal mission which my government has decided to undertake because a Dutch court of law issued rulings in these specific cases," De Bont said.

He gave no further details about the rulings.