ABC Says Seven Women And 14 Children Linked To ISIS Leave Al-Roj For Damascus

A second group of Australian women and children linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) left the al-Roj refugee camp in northeastern Syria and arrived in Syria's capital, Damascus, the ABC reported, with the broadcaster saying the federal government had not been notified that flights had been booked at this stage.

“The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said on Friday that a second group of Australian women and children linked to the Islamic State has left a refugee camp in northeast Syria and is likely to return to Australia”

Al-Jazeera Net

The ABC said seven women and 14 children arrived in Damascus after leaving al-Roj on Thursday afternoon local time, making them the final Australians to depart the al-Roj detention camp for families of jailed and killed Islamic State fighters.

Al-Jazeera Net

The ABC reported that it was still unclear when the group might travel to Australia, and Western Sydney doctor Jamal Rifi said, "I just don't know how many of them are going to arrive in Australia."

Earlier this month, Australia received four women and nine children connected to ISIS after they had spent nearly seven years in detention camps in Syria, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticised the women for travelling to Syria during the peak of ISIS’s campaign to establish its self-declared caliphate.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Australia’s security and intelligence agencies had been preparing for the return of women linked to ISIS for more than a decade, and he added, "This is not a coherent group, there is a spectrum in terms of the actions of the individuals while they have been away from Australia."

The ABC reported that in February the Australian government issued a Temporary Exclusion Order (TEO) to block the return of one woman in the group on security grounds, and Dr Rifi said, "She is discussing [the TEO]. It is a matter for the lawyers to make that decision".

Al-Sahifa Al-Khaleej

Cabinet Minister Tanya Plibersek told the ABC that the women would face the same consequences as the first group, saying, "if there are any crimes that they're accused of, they'll be taken into custody and treated with the full force of the law," while opposition leader Angus Taylor said the government "should be doing all it can to stop these people coming back to Australia".

Dr Rifi told the ABC that neither group had received any help "whatsoever" from the Australian government and said they relied on assistance from lawyers, humanitarians and the Syrian government, while the ABC reported the Albanese government has insisted it is not helping the families return but has conceded it has obligations including issuing passports.

The ABC reported that the group's departure from al-Roj followed the return of four women and nine children from Syria to Australia earlier this month, and it said three of the women in that group were arrested and charged by federal police the moment they set foot on Australian soil.

“In short: A group of seven Australian women and 14 children has left the al-Roj refugee camp for families linked to terrorist organisation Islamic State and arrived in Syria's capital, Damascus”

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Those charges included two slavery offences and one charge of joining a terrorist organisation and travelling to a declared terrorist hotspot, and the ABC said speculation spread through al-Roj that the arrests may have prompted the remaining women to reconsider their travel.

The ABC also reported that Dr Rifi believed there would be a greater security risk to Australians if the families remained in the Middle East, saying, "We were concerned about the kids in the camp growing up in the camp into adulthood".

The Economic Times reported that after ISIS lost control of its self-declared caliphate in 2019, numerous foreign families were detained in camps across the region, and it said the situation in Syria had become more unstable in recent months following shifts in control over detention facilities previously overseen by Kurdish-led forces.