BEIRUT (AP) — Red Cross and Red Crescent officials say an Albanian boy who was taken to Syria by his mother when she joined the Islamic State group has been freed from a crowded detention camp.
He headed home to Italy with his father Thursday.
The story of 11-year-old Alvin has captivated public attention in Italy after a TV news show reported on his father’s agonized efforts to bring him home. The boy found himself with no family in the al-Hol camp run by Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria, after his mother and siblings died amid fighting.
The shifting strategic landscape in Syria also paved the way for his release.
The Kurdish forces that run al-Hol camp recently aligned with the Syrian government, allowing for an exit through Damascus rather than neighboring Iraq.
