Father Makes Emotional Plea for Daughter Trapped in Syrian ISIS Camp
The father of an Australian woman who asserts she inadvertently entered a warzone and subsequently married an Islamic State fighter for her own protection has issued a heartfelt appeal to the government for her repatriation. Zakaria Zahab publicly called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday to accelerate the safe return of his daughter, Nesrine Zahab, who has been stranded in Syria for over ten years.
Accidental Crossing and Forced Marriage
Nesrine Zahab, now in her early thirties, previously disclosed to the ABC's Four Corners program that she was holidaying in the Middle East with relatives when she became marooned. In 2014, she traveled from Sydney to Lebanon as a woman in her twenties. Among her companions was her male cousin, Muhammad Zahab, a former Sydney mathematics teacher who later emerged as a significant ISIS recruiter.
While in Lebanon, Nesrine and a female cousin secretly departed from their family to deliver humanitarian aid to refugees on the Turkish side of the Syrian border. However, Nesrine recounted that she unintentionally crossed the border and panicked when an individual requested her passport and she spotted an Islamic State flag. She was prohibited from leaving and eventually wed Ahmed Merhi, a Sydney-born Islamic State terrorist sentenced to death, believing this union offered her optimal chance of survival.
Escape and Ongoing Captivity
In 2017, while pregnant, Nesrine managed to escape and reached Kurdish-controlled northern Syria, where her son was born in the al-Roj refugee camp. Both mother and child were later returned in a prisoner exchange but eventually went back to al-Roj following the collapse of the brutal regime. Her father, Mr. Zahab, reaffirmed her account in an interview with the Daily Telegraph on Monday, insisting, "She's Australian, she didn't do anything wrong. She has no involvement with ISIS."
He emphasized that his daughter was "young" when she committed the "mistake" that devastated her life, pleading, "How can a government live with itself leaving people in a camp to die? Please, please Mr Albanese, bring her home. Australia needs to bring her back."
Failed Repatriation Attempts
Mr. Zahab revealed that Nesrine was among a group of twenty-three women and eleven children who endeavored to flee the Kurdish-administered Al Roj camp in February. Reports indicate the group received Australian passports and clearance to return home but were halted merely fifty kilometers from the camp by Syrian authorities and forced back.
The repatriation initiative was supervised by prominent Western Sydney physician Jamal Rifi, with another attempt reportedly in preparation, contingent upon the persistent conflict in the Middle East. Mr. Zahab lamented that he has only been able to communicate with his daughter once every three months throughout the past decade, stating, "She was young, I haven't seen my daughter or ever met my grandson who was born over there, he is now eight years old."
He added, "I've never met my grandson. Nesrine is a good girl, she was naive, she didn't know what she was doing, she was caught on the border." Mr. Zahab stressed it is "Australia's responsibility" to secure her return. The Daily Mail has contacted the Department of Home Affairs for commentary on this pressing matter.
