A group of women and children linked to Islamic State have reportedly left their Syrian detention camp and are attempting to return to Australia in a second bid for freedom.
Four women and nine children have departed the al-Roj camp in north-eastern Syria, according to the ABC.
“We can confirm that today the co-ordination was perfect,” camp director Hakmiyeh Ibrahim told the ABC on Friday.
“It was done between us and the Syrian government, to be able to fly back these families to their country,” she said, adding there were no plans for any Australians remaining at the camp to follow.
It is the second attempt the group have made to return to Australia since February, when they, as part of a larger cohort of 34 women and children, left the camp but were turned back 50 kilometres down the road.
The Australian citizens have been held in Syrian camps for seven years following the fall of Islamic State in the country and the death or capture of their IS fighter husbands and fathers.
A political stoush erupted over the cohort, against the backdrop of a debate over migration and extremism after the allegedly IS-inspired massacre at Bondi and as anti-immigration party One Nation rose in the polls.
The Coalition attacked the government over the handling of the families after it was revealed they had been issued new passports, which they are entitled to as citizens. New opposition leader Angus Taylor proposed making it illegal for charities to go to Syria and help the women and children escape camps.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was not proactively assisting the repatriation of the cohort and said he had “nothing but contempt for these people” who left Australia with their husbands who fought for Islamic State.
“If you make your bed, you lie in it,” he said in February.
Mothers distressed at the February failure said they would willingly go to prison in Australia for terrorism offences if it meant getting their children out of Syria.
A home affairs spokesperson on Saturday would not comment on the 13 that had reportedly left that camp, but said security agencies continued to monitor the situation in Syria to ensure the government was prepared for any Australians seeking to return.
“People in this cohort need to know that if they have committed a crime and if they return to Australia they will be met with the full force of the law. The safety of Australians and the protection of Australia’s national interests remain the overriding priority,” they said.
“The Australian government is not and will not repatriate people from Syria.”
Brittany Busch is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners
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