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<\/p>\nAustralian families with links to Islamic State fighters have been forced to turn around after leaving a camp in Syria to try to begin their journey home to Australia.<\/p>\n
The ABC has been told that 11 families, with 34 women and children in total, left the Al-Roj camp in north-eastern Syria on Monday morning, local time.<\/p>\n
The families were heading to the Syrian capital, Damascus, where they would plan their onward travel to Australia, the ABC was told.<\/p>\n
But shortly after leaving the camp, Syrian government authorities did not allow the convoy of Australian families to head to the capital, forcing them to return to Al-Roj camp, the ABC was told.<\/p>\n
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The Al-Roj camp in Syria has held thousands of people, including dozens of Australians. (ABC News: Heidi Pett)<\/p>\n
The convoy was being escorted by Kurdish security forces, who remain in control of a small section of north-eastern Syria \u2014 including where the Al-Roj camp is.<\/p>\n
A message was passed to the Australian families by the Kurdish escorts, saying Syrian authorities would not allow them to continue their journey.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the federal government said it would not help the families return to Australia.<\/p>\n
“The Australian government is not and will not repatriate people from Syria,” it said.<\/p>\n
“Our security agencies have been monitoring \u2014 and continue to monitor \u2014 the situation in Syria to ensure they are prepared for any Australians seeking to return to Australia.<\/p>\n
“People in this cohort need to know that if they have committed a crime and if they return to Australia, they will be met with the full force of the law.<\/p>\n
“The safety of Australians and the protection of Australia’s national interests remain the overriding priority.”<\/p>\n
The Australian government did not confirm whether it had issued passports to the group.<\/p>\n
‘Take your citizens’: Camp urges Australia to repatriate families<\/p>\n
Dozens of Australian women and children were detained in Syrian camps and prisons after the so-called Islamic State “caliphate” was defeated by US-led forces in 2019.<\/p>\n
The women were the partners \u2014 or were believed to be by authorities \u2014 of jailed or killed members of the terrorist group.<\/p>\n
‘You don’t know my story’: Australian women who lived under ISIS beg to come home<\/a><\/p>\n Australian women who lived in the Islamic State terror group’s so-called caliphate speak from detention camps in Syria for the first time, begging the federal government to bring them home.<\/p>\n The first group of Australians, consisting of four women and 13 children, were released from the Al-Roj detention camp back in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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