Australian citizen in Syria with alleged Isis ties banned from returning home

The Australian government has banned an Australian citizen with alleged ISIS ties from returning home from a Syrian detention camp. The woman was part of a group of 33 Australians, mostly women and children, who were scheduled to be repatriated from Damascus on Monday. However, the group was turned back to the Roj detention camp due to procedural issues. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke stated that the government issued a temporary exclusion order for the woman on Monday, preventing her return. She had left Australia for Syria between 2013 and 2015. The government has not provided specific details about the reasons for the ban, but Burke generally blamed parents for the situation of children stranded in Syria.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is consulting with security agencies regarding the potential use of Temporary Exclusion Orders to prevent the return of Australian women and children currently held in a Syrian detention camp. The consultation follows the release of 34 Australian women and children from the al-Roj camp in northeastern Syria by Kurdish authorities on Monday night. These individuals are wives, widows, and children of deceased or imprisoned Islamic State fighters. Temporary Exclusion Orders can prevent a person's entry into Australia for up to two years, but require a high legal threshold to be enacted. It remains unclear how many of the returning Australians could be subject to such orders.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that his government will not assist in repatriating 34 Australian women and children, relatives of suspected ISIL fighters, from the Roj detention camp in Syria. The individuals were briefly released from the Kurdish-controlled camp on Monday but were returned due to a lack of permission to enter Syrian government-held territory. Albanese stated that Australia would not provide support, citing the individuals' participation in attempts to undermine Australia's way of life. The Australian Minister for Home Affairs also warned that returnees who have committed crimes will face legal consequences upon their return to Australia.