A group consisting of seven Australian women and 12 children with alleged ties to the Islamic State (ISIS) is preparing to return to Australia, according to officials on Tuesday.
Their planned return would mark the second such group to leave a Syrian refugee camp for Australia within the same month.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke stated that the federal government is not facilitating their travel arrangements. He also emphasized that anyone found to have committed crimes would face legal consequences upon return, saying that those responsible “can expect to face the full force of the law.”
“These are people who have made the horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organization and to place their children in an unspeakable situation,” Burke said in a statement.
While authorities did not disclose an exact arrival date for the group, Burke’s office has not provided further details in response to media inquiries. However, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the group departed a camp in northeast Syria last Thursday and may arrive in Australia within days.
This development follows the earlier return of four women and nine children earlier in the month, after spending more than seven years in a Syrian detention camp. Among that earlier group, two women have been charged with slavery-related offenses, while another faces terrorism-related charges, including alleged membership in ISIS.
The repatriations have sparked political controversy, with critics arguing that the center-left government has failed to prevent the return of individuals linked to extremist activity. In response, officials have maintained that there are “very serious limits” on the government’s ability to block Australian citizens from re-entering the country.
Australian security and intelligence agencies have reportedly been preparing for such repatriations for years, with established monitoring systems in place for returnees.
Between 2012 and 2016, several Australian women are believed to have traveled to Syria to join husbands affiliated with ISIS. After the collapse of the group’s self-declared caliphate in 2019, many associated individuals were detained in camps across the region.
Separately, in January, the United States began relocating detained ISIS members from facilities in Syria following the breakdown of Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces control, which had previously overseen multiple detention sites holding both fighters and affiliated civilians, including foreigners.
