Trio jailed in France for ‘wanting’ to fight in Syria

Three young men were convicted and handed prison sentences for trying to travel to Syria, a magnet for foreign fighters, even though they never left France.

The convictions by a Paris court were thought to be the first in France of potential jihad fighters for Syria. The prison sentences show that justice intends to be tough on the scores of young French Muslims drawn to the Syrian civil war — even if they never make it to their destination.

The court handed down prison terms ranging from two to five years for criminal association with the intent to commit terrorist acts, a sweeping charge used in France to cast a wide net in terror cases.

French authorities are concerned about the attraction the three-year war exerts on western Muslims. They fear a potential threat from returning fighters, fully radicalised and with battle-honed skills.

Even young French adolescents have made their way to Syria, or tried to go. A 14-year-old girl was stopped last week before boarding her flight to Turkey, the common route to Syria, according to the prosecutor’s office in Grenoble, her hometown. French authorities have said that more than 600 French had left for Syria, were plotting to go or have returned. More than 20 French have been killed in the fighting.

The three men convicted, aged between 21 and 26, were arrested in 2012 as they tried to board a plane for Turkey. They contended during their February trial that their objective was humanitarian, not fighting battles.

Separately, Syrian government forces have seized a village in the central Homs province at the weekend, state media and a monitoring group said, as part of a push for control of areas along the Lebanese border.

The village of al-Zara, west of the city of Homs, fell after “heavy clashes” between government and rebel forces, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, although the number of casualties was not clear.

In a statement on state news agency SANA, Syria’s armed forces said they had established complete control over the village and killed and captured a “large number of terrorists”, using state media’s customary term for rebels fighting to overthrow president Bashar al-Assad.

The victory gave government forces control over a route connecting central Syria to the Mediterranean coast and which had been used as “a primary route for terrorist groups”.