Joyful homecoming for four French journalists after Syria captivity

French Presidnt Francois Hollande (C) speaks with former French hostages and journalists, from L-2ndR, Didier Francois, Edouard Elias , Nicolas Henin, who holds his children, Pierre Torres and France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (R), moments after their arrival by helicopter from Evreux to the military airbase in Villacoulbay, near Paris, April 20, 2014. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

VILLACOUBLAY AIRBASE, France (Reuters) - Four French journalists held captive in Syria for more than 10 months returned home to France on Sunday, freshly shaved and beaming, where they were met at an airbase by President Francois Hollande, their families and friends.

Nicolas Henin, Pierre Torres, Edouard Elias and Didier Francois smiled at a crowd of journalists, some of them colleagues, after descending from a military helicopter at the Villacoublay airbase southwest of Paris.