Islamic State-linked families stuck because of Australia’s refusal: Syrian officials

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has brushed off criticisms from US state officials over his government’s handling of Islamic State-linked families, after Syrian officials said Australian authorities had refused to allow their return.

Addressing a press conference alongside the prime minister on Thursday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said some in the cohort would be “weighing up” their decision to return, over fears they would be arrested upon landing in Australia.

“This is not a cohesive group, so we shouldn’t be expecting that every individual, every individual, will have the identical legal challenges of some. But I will say this: anyone who has broken the law will face the full force of the law,” Burke said.

“I suspect some of these individuals will be weighing up whether they want to come back to Australia ever.”

Thirteen women and children from four families left Roj camp, a remote facility on the Iraq border, on Friday to travel to the Syrian capital Damascus. This masthead revealed on Monday that the group had acquired plane tickets to return to Australia.

However, the Syrian information ministry recently told the Associated Press the cohort was turned back before reaching Damascus International Airport as “the Australian government had refused to receive” the cohort.

The office of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has been contacted for comment on the specifics of this statement. Burke’s assistant minister Julian Hill said on Thursday the government had “very, very limited” powers to halt citizens from returning.

News of the group’s latest scuttled departure comes after revelations US state department officials had condemned Australia’s reluctance to repatriate the families. In a letter seen by this masthead, officials said they were seeking to “press countries to repatriate, especially in light of recent developments in the region”.

“I see that the Australian government has dug in on its opposition to repatriating them from the camp … I can only imagine how frustrating their return to Roj is,” a state department official wrote in February, when the cohort last attempted to return to Australia.

The February attempt saw 34 women and children seeking to travel from Roj to Australia. However, the group was turned back by Syrian authorities.

In response to the criticisms, Albanese on Thursday said: “The United States position is not a new one. That has been their position for some time, and we have indicated our position for some time.”

The Syrian information ministry has said a solution for the families can “only be achieved through coordination with the relevant international parties”.

Opposition Home Affairs spokesman Jonathon Duniam demanded the government take an active role in stopping the group from returning, describing them as “a danger to our community”.

“How is it that another foreign government could be making decisions for Australia? It shows that this government is not willing to make the hard decisions,” Duniam told this masthead.

Former Islamic State fighters, along with their wives and children, were held in camps and detention centres in north-east Syria after the militant group lost control of its territory in Syria in 2019.

Australian governments have repatriated Australian women and children from Syrian detention camps on two occasions. Other Australians have also returned without government assistance.