A group of Australian women and children held in Syria since the defeat of Islamic State have arrived in Melbourne and Sydney, bringing an end to seven years of detention while thrusting themselves into a heated political debate about their future.
Police said they made no arrests in contrast to the arrest of three women returning from Syrian camps earlier this month.
The cohort of 12 children and six women who arrived back on Tuesday had left a Syrian detention camp last week before boarding flights home. Most either left Australia more than a decade ago, or were born in Syria or Iraq after their parents travelled to the so-called caliphate.
A flight carrying two women and their children arrived in Melbourne just after 4.30pm on Tuesday, while another flight carrying four women and their children arrived in Sydney on a flight from Doha about an hour later.
The women who landed in Melbourne left the airport through a side door around two hours after landing, evading most of the TV cameras, photographers and reporters who were waiting at the arrivals gate. There was a small police presence in the arrivals hall.
The Sydney group left the airport just before 8pm on Tuesday evening. The women, who were masked, their children and at least one adult male avoided the main arrivals halls and awaiting press pack and were rushed out in two white cars with the assistance of more than a dozen police, who were controlling traffic.
Earlier, there had been a strong police presence in the arrivals hall, with some members of the AFP carrying automatic weapons.
Meanwhile, as the rain poured down in Sydney, eager family members awaited their loved ones with “welcome home” balloons.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) issued a statement on Tuesday evening confirming none of this cohort had been charged.
“The cohort was subject to a range of operational responses, including the searching of belongings and the downloading of their devices for investigative purposes,” the AFP said.
“No one arriving within this cohort has been charged, however, investigations into the activities of Australians who travelled to Syria – including those who have since returned – are ongoing.”
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said on Tuesday morning that security agencies have been preparing for their return since 2014 and “have longstanding plans in place to manage and monitor them”.
“These are people who have made the horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation and to place their children in an unspeakable situation,” he said.
“As we have said many times, any members of this cohort who have committed crimes can expect to face the full force of the law.
“The priority of the government, as always, is the safety of the Australian community.”
The Sydney group was believed to include Nesrine, Sumaya and Aminah Zahab, and Hyam Raad, along with their children.
Aminah is the mother of Muhammad Zahab, who the ABC reported in 2019 was considered to be a senior member of IS and who recruited more than a dozen family members before he was killed in 2018. He reportedly convinced Aminah and his sister Sumaya to travel to Syria.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailHis cousin, Nesrine Zahab, has said she was 21 when she and a female cousin snuck away from a family holiday in Lebanon to help refugees on the Turkish side of the Syrian border.
She said she had no intention of entering the war-torn country.
“Who walks into a war zone? I was going to see Syrians, yes, because of what they’re going through,” Nesrine Zahab told the ABC.
“I found that I was in Syria, did I have a heart attack? Of course.
“Did I cry and scream and chuck a fit like a little girl? I chucked the biggest tantrum.”
The group returning to Melbourne was believed to include Kawsar Kanj and her five children, one of whom is now an adult, and Kirsty Rosse-Emile and her two children.
Kanj and her husband, Majed Raad – who was acquitted over his alleged role in the Pendennis terror plot almost two decades ago – travelled with three children to Syria from Melbourne’s northern suburbs in 2014. Two more children were born after the couple left.
According to documents seen by Guardian Australia, Kanj had her citizenship cancelled by then home affairs minister Peter Dutton in 2019 in a decision later overturned by a high court ruling.
Raad is thought to have survived the territorial collapse of IS and was held in a Syrian prison, but his current whereabouts is unknown.
Rosse-Emile was 19 when she left Melbourne’s south-east with her husband, Nabil Kadmiry. Their two children, aged about nine and six, were born after the couple left Australia. Kadmiry was also captured in 2019.
Members of Kanj’s and Rosse-Emile’s families did not respond to requests for comment.
The Save the Children Australia CEO, Mat Tinkler, said the returning children would need access to “wraparound health and psychosocial support”.
“The political debate surrounding their future in Australia has been deeply disappointing,” Tinkler said.
“While much attention has focused on the circumstances of the mothers, two-thirds of the returning group are children. Australia must prioritise their safety, wellbeing and right to live in this country as Australian citizens.”
The Morrison government repatriated eight orphans from Syria in 2019 before the Albanese government repatriated 13 children with their four mothers in October 2022.
In 2025, two mothers and their four children returned to Melbourne after negotiating their return with authorities.
Last month, nine children and their four mothers also returned to Australia with the support of their families. Three of the women were arrested and charged.
Tinkler called for the remaining Australian woman in Syria, who has been issued a temporary exclusion order by the Albanese government preventing her return and has stayed in the country with her daughter, to also be allowed to leave.
The woman’s father and lawyer were contacted for comment.
