PARIS — For months, Lydie and Patrice Maninchedda were met with silence when they pleaded with the French government to repatriate their three grandsons, who were stranded in a Kurdish-controlled camp in northeastern Syria, after their mother had been reported killed.

But that silence came to an end on Friday when an official told them that their grandchildren, ages 1, 3 and 5, were part of a small group of Islamic State militants’ orphans who had been brought back to France.

“We are their only remaining family, and now they are our only reason to live,” said Ms. Maninchedda, whose daughter Julie joined the Islamic State in Syria in 2014, and was reported killed in late 2018.

“One of my grandchildren has shrapnel wounds on his face, the other has an atrophied leg, they all needed critical care,” she added.