The last remaining Australian women and children stranded in the al-Roj detention camp in north-east Syria have reportedly left for Damascus, ahead of an expected return to Australia. Vision obtained by an ABC news crew showed a minivan leaving the camp, transporting all seven women and 14 children, though this has not been officially confirmed.
The group, travelling in convoy with a Syrian government escort, is expected to book flights home in the coming days. All are Australian citizens with travel documents, though one woman is subject to a temporary exclusion order preventing her re-entry. The Australian government did not confirm the departure, and no plane tickets have been booked yet.
Federal minister Tanya Plibersek said the group would face the same consequences as previous returnees. The Australians are wives, widows and children of Islamic State fighters, held at the camp for over six years. Some women could face terror-related charges on arrival, though many claim they were coerced or tricked into entering Syria.
This is the fifth group to leave Syrian detention camps since 2019. Late last year, a group escaped al-Hawl camp and returned home. Last month, four women and nine children returned from Damascus; three were arrested and charged by Australian Federal Police upon arrival.
The al-Roj camp, controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and described by the US as an “incubator for radicalisation”, is being shuttered ahead of a handover to the Syrian government. The Albanese government maintains it is not assisting the Australians’ return, but warns any offenders will be prosecuted to the “full extent of the law”.
