MOSCOW, September 17 (RAPSI) - The French police have arrested four suspects for recruiting people to join the military action in Syria, RIA Novosti reports citing AFP.

The arrests took place yesterday near Lyon in southeastern France. Three men and one woman are being held. Weapons were confiscated during a related search.

According to AFP, those arrested are suspected of recruiting young women to fight alongside the militants in Syria. Arrests of young women, sometimes minors, who were preparing to go to Syria have become frequent in France recently.

Last spring, French Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve, presented a report on French citizens fighting in Syria. The report states that some 285 French nationals are already in Syria while 120 “jihadist candidates” are somewhere between the two countries.

Since March 2011, the ongoing military conflict in Syria has resulted in the death of almost 200,000 people, according to the UN. The government army is fighting militants that are part of different armed groups and that include foreign recruits.