Family members of suspected Islamic State militants who are Australian nationals sit in a van heading to the airport in Damascus during the first repatriation operation of the year, at Roj Camp in eastern Syria, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. Thirty-four Australian citizens from 11 families departed the camp.
Baderkhan Ahmad/AP
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Baderkhan Ahmad/AP
MELBOURNE, Australia — The Australian government has decided not to repatriate a group of 34 women and children with alleged ties to the Islamic State group from Syria, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Tuesday.
The women and children, who are from 11 families, were meant to return to Australia from Damascus but were sent back to Roj camp in northeast Syria due to procedural issues with Syrian authorities on Monday.
Since the fall of the Islamic State group in 2019, only two groups of Australians have been repatriated with government assistance from Syrian camps, while others have returned independently.
Albanese refrained from commenting on reports suggesting that the latest group had Australian passports.
“We are offering no support and will not be repatriating these individuals,” Albanese stated in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in Melbourne.
He emphasized the government’s lack of sympathy for those who traveled overseas to support the establishment of a caliphate that aimed to undermine the Australian way of life.
Albanese highlighted that Save the Children, a child welfare-focused charity, had been unsuccessful in establishing the government’s legal obligation to repatriate citizens from Syrian camps in Australian courts.
After a federal court ruled in favor of the government in 2024, Save the Children Australia’s CEO argued for a moral obligation to repatriate families.
If the latest group manages to return to Australia without government assistance, they may face legal consequences, according to Albanese.
It was a criminal offense under Australian law to travel to the former Islamic State stronghold of al-Raqqa province without a valid reason from 2014 to 2017, with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
“While it is unfortunate that children are impacted by this situation, we will not provide any support. Those who return to Australia independently will be subject to the full extent of the law if any laws have been violated,” Albanese added.
The most recent group of Australians repatriated from Syrian camps arrived in Sydney in October 2022, consisting of four mothers and 13 children who were former partners of Islamic State supporters.
They were identified as the most vulnerable among the 60 Australian women and children held at Roj camp, as stated by the government at the time.
In 2019, eight children of two deceased Australian Islamic State fighters were repatriated from Syria by the previous conservative government ahead of Albanese’s Labor Party administration.
The issue of Islamic State supporters gained renewed attention in Australia following the tragic incident of 15 people being killed at a Jewish festival in Bondi Beach on December 14, allegedly by individuals inspired by IS.
