Australia Repatriates Women and Children from Syrian Detention Camps

A group of 11 women and children landed in Melbourne at about 5:30pm on Thursday after their plane began its journey in Damascus on Wednesday. The arrivals included Kawsar Abbas, her eldest daughters Zahra and Zeinab, and eight children and grandchildren. Janai Safar and her child are expected to land in Sydney on Thursday.

Australian Federal Police are expected to make arrests upon the group's arrival. AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett stated that adults in the group faced arrest and possible charges when they arrived in Australia. AFP officers had been investigating the women since 2015 and collected evidence from Syria as part of their operation.

The women had been detained for more than seven years in Syrian detention camps since the fall of Islamic State. The group had been living in the al-Roj detention camp since 2019. Possible charges include terrorism offences such as entering or remaining in declared areas and crimes against humanity offences such as engaging in slave trading.

The government was alerted to the planned departure of the group on Wednesday morning when tickets were booked. The group left al-Roj and travelled to Damascus last month. All members of the group hold Australian passports.

The government had been preparing for the group's return since 2014. Kawsar Abbas travelled to Turkey with her extended family in 2014. Her husband Mohammad Ahmad travelled to Syria in 2012 and performed aid work with the registered charity Global Humanitarian Aid Australia.

AFP suspects Mohammad Ahmad of using the charity to support Islamic State. The group of 13 are part of a larger cohort of 34 believed to include wives, widows and children of IS fighters who left the camp in February but returned for technical reasons. One member of the cohort was banned from returning to Australia earlier this year when the government issued a temporary exclusion order.

That person is not among the group that landed on Thursday. There are now about 21 Australians in the detention camps, which are being gradually evacuated and are set to close. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen said children returning to her state would be asked to undertake countering violent extremism programs.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation said that the return of the jihadi brides would not raise the country's terror threat level, which remains probable. The head of Australia's spy agency, Mike Burgess, said he was not concerned immediately by the group's return but they will get attention as expected. Janai Safar travelled to Syria in 2015 and reportedly married an IS fighter.

She is accompanied by her 9-year-old son, who was born in Syria. The group began their second attempt to travel home to Australia last month after a much larger cohort was turned back by Syrian authorities in February.