SYDNEY – Australia announced on May 6 that 13 Australian family members linked to the Islamic State extremist group in Syria intend to return home but will receive no government assistance.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters the group includes four women and nine children. He stressed “very serious limits” on blocking Australian citizens from re-entering and said, “The government is not assisting and will not assist these individuals. They made an appalling, disgraceful decision.”
Mr Burke emphasized that the lack of support reflects their choices, adding that any returnee suspected of crimes will “face the full force of the law without exception,” though he did not detail charges.
Authorities have prepared for such returns since 2014, with law enforcement and intelligence agencies maintaining contingency plans for extremist-linked individuals.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said some returnees could face immediate arrest and charges, while others remain under investigation. Children would access community reintegration and support programs.
The women had travelled to Syria between 2012 and 2016 to join husbands who joined Islamic State. After the group’s caliphate collapsed in 2019, many ended up in camps like Al-Hol near the Iraqi border, which detained relatives of captured fighters.
Recent shifts followed the US moving detained IS members out of Syria in January after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which guarded the facilities, weakened. By February, fewer than 1,000 families remained in north-east Syria camps.