13 Australia citizens linked to alleged IS members returning from Syria

SYDNEY: A group of 13 Australians related to alleged Islamic State jihadists is returning home from Syria, Australian authorities said Wednesday, warning some will face arrest.

The four women and nine children, who had been living in Roj camp in Syria, are expected to land in Sydney and Melbourne airports on Thursday, according to local media.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said he received an alert Wednesday morning when the group’s travel booking was made.

“The government is not assisting and will not assist these individuals,” he told a news conference.

“They made an appalling, disgraceful decision. If any of these individuals find their way back to Australia, if they have committed crimes, they can expect to face the full force of the law, without exception.”

Police said they collected evidence in Syria as they investigated whether Australians had committed crimes under Australian law, including travelling to a prohibited area and engaging in slave trade.

“Some individuals will be arrested and charged,” Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.

She did not indicate when they would be arrested, and said others in the group will remain under investigation.

“Children who return in the cohort will be asked to undergo community integration programmes, therapeutic support, and countering violent extremism programmes,” she added.

‘Horrific choice’

The Australian government has issued an exclusion order preventing another woman in the Syrian camp from entering Australia.

“These are people who have made what is a horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation and to place their children in an extraordinary situation,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters.

Australia’s Human Rights Commission president Hugh de Kretser in March urged the government to support the return of 34 Australian women and children living in the Roj camp, where they have been held for seven years, noting Australian citizens had previously returned from the camp in 2019, 2022 and last year.

Australia made it an offence to travel to the Islamic State’s stronghold of Raqqa province in Syria between 2014 and 2017, an attempt to stop its citizens joining the militant group.

A woman who returned from Syria in 2022 was later charged by Australian police with entering a terrorist controlled area.

Around 2,000 foreign national women and children remain living in Roj camp, displaced after the collapse of Islamic State in March 2019, Syrian officials said in March.