SYDNEY (Al Jazeera) – The Australian government has repatriated four Australian women and their 13 children from a Syrian refugee camp to New South Wales state, home affairs minister Clare O’Neil said.
The repatriation is part of a plan to bring back from Syria dozens of Australian women and children who are relatives of dead or jailed Daesh terrorists and who have languished for several years at the al-Hol and Roj detention camps in Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria.
Australia first repatriated eight children and grandchildren of two dead Daesh terrorists from a Syrian refugee camp in 2019 but has held off repatriating any others until now.
“The decision to repatriate these women and their children was informed by individual assessments following detailed work by national security agencies,” O’Neil said in a statement on Saturday.
The women and children left the Roj refugee camp in northern Syria on Thursday afternoon and crossed the border into Iraq to board a flight home, the Sydney Morning Herald and state broadcaster ABC reported.
The repatriation followed similar moves by the United States, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Canada, O’Neil said.
She said allegations of illegal activity would continue to be investigated by state and federal law enforcement authorities.
“Any identified offences may lead to law enforcement action being taken,” O’Neil said, adding that New South Wales was providing “extensive support services” to assist the group to reintegrate into Australia.