{"id":808450,"date":"2026-05-19T22:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/808450\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T22:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:28:18","slug":"more-isis-linked-women-and-children-set-to-return-to-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/808450\/","title":{"rendered":"More ISIS-linked women and children set to return to Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six Australian women, along with their children and grandchildren, look likely to leave a squalid camp for the families of former Islamic State fighters in north-eastern Syria within days.<\/p>\n

The exact timing of their departure is not yet set, with wrangling underway between Kurdish and Syrian officials over the logistics of their travel, including the journey from the Al Roj camp to Damascus, over 10 hours drive away, and their onward flights to Australia.<\/p>\n

Camp administrators have denied knowledge of any plans to the ABC, but word has spread from other camp staff and officials within the Syrian government that movement is imminent.<\/p>\n

Last month, four women and nine children left Al Roj bound for the Syrian capital<\/a>. They remained in the city for almost a fortnight, before boarding flights to Sydney and Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Upon arrival in Australia, three of the women were arrested and charged<\/a> by the Australian Federal Police.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Four of the so-called “ISIS brides” arrived back in Australia earlier this month. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Kawsar Abbas and her daughter Zeinab Ahmad are facing charges relating to slavery while members of the so-called Islamic State caliphate, and Janai Safar has been charged with joining a terrorist organisation and travelling to a declared conflict zone.<\/p>\n

All three remain in custody.<\/p>\n

The arrests sparked speculation the remaining Australians in Al Roj might reconsider their desire to travel home<\/a>, knowing they could face criminal charges.<\/p>\n

One woman will not be travelling because she is subject to a Temporary Exclusion Order<\/a>, banning her from heading to Australia along with the rest of the cohort on national security grounds.<\/p>\n

The ABC has been told her children will leave Al Roj with other members of the group, which includes family members.<\/p>\n

A Syrian official told the ABC “any public information about this case can jeopardise it”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Authorities at the camp are yet to publicly confirm the latest group’s plans to depart. (ABC News: Baderkhan Ahmad)<\/p>\n

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced the looming arrival of the four women and nine children a fortnight ago, seemingly triggered by the purchase of plane tickets, but it is not clear whether that will happen again this time.<\/p>\n

Returns spark political debate<\/p>\n

The saga has highlighted deep tensions in Syria, and the power struggle which has engulfed the country in recent months.<\/p>\n

Kurdish fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, have lost large swathes of territory to Syrian state forces since January, coinciding with the moment the US shifted its support in the region to rebel leader-turned-President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who is now the dominant power.<\/p>\n

Al Roj is within the Kurdish-controlled north-east tip of the country, the only area it still holds.<\/p>\n

How ‘temporary’ exclusion orders could become be ‘permanent’<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the Australian women being held in a Syrian refugee camp has been barred from returning home after being given a temporary exclusion order \u2014 but the ban may not be as temporary as the name implies.<\/p>\n

The Syrian government has been exercising its influence across the country on a range of matters, including the future of people linked to former IS fighters.<\/p>\n

The Al Hol camp, south of Al Roj, was shut down earlier this year. Residents were transferred to a new facility near the city of Aleppo, in Syria’s north-east.<\/p>\n

In February, when the entire group of 34 Australian women and children tried to leave Al Roj, they were turned around, the initial reason cited was that their families had not properly coordinated their travel with government authorities.<\/p>\n

But that story started to shift in the days and weeks following the failed trip, with Syrian government authorities suggesting there was no barrier to their travel.<\/p>\n

The incident also fuelled a fierce political debate in Australia.<\/p>\n

Syrian and Kurdish officials continually referred to the rhetoric of the Australian government, including the prime minister’s remarks that he had nothing but contempt for the women involved, to cast doubt on whether they would be allowed into the country.<\/p>\n

That was despite Mr Burke effectively conceding the government had to let them in, given it has a legal obligation to allow citizens to return, and single-use passports being issued to facilitate their travel.<\/p>\n

The federal opposition lashed the Albanese government over the issue, accusing it of failing to keep the Australian community safe and demanding new legislation to allow the women and children to be blocked from returning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six Australian women, along with their children and grandchildren, look likely to leave a squalid camp for the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":794844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[256398,4740,256396,216928,328707,50,23312,46181],"class_list":["post-808450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-al-roj","tag-australia","tag-isis-brides","tag-islamic-state","tag-kurdish-fighters","tag-news","tag-syria","tag-tony-burke"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116603605777668701","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}