ISIS brides and kids back with Aussie families

ISIS women and children have been released to their families after no charges were laid by the Australian Federal Police.

The 17 Australian women and children who left a camp for Islamic State families in Syria have been released from their ­secure accommodation in Sydney and returned to their extended families.

The four mothers and 13 children arrived in Sydney on Saturday, accompanied by DFAT and Home Affairs officials who took them out of al-Roj detention camp in Syria last week, The Australian reports.

As the wives, widows and children of dead or detained ISIS members, they have been held in the camps without charge for three years and seven months.

The families, who are all from NSW, will live in suburban Sydney, The Australian reports.

None of the family members has been charged by the Australian Federal Police.

Kamalle Dabboussy with his daughter Mariam Dabboussy (right) and her daughters Aisha (left) and Fatema. They are reported to be on the flight to Australia. Picture: Supplied

Last week, a spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil declined to comment on the flight in a statement shared with News Corp Australia.

“The Albanese government’s overriding priority is the protection of Australians and Australia’s national interests, informed by national security advice,” the spokesman said in a statement.

“Given the sensitive nature of the matters involved, it would not be appropriate to comment further.”

Another 43 Australian women and children remain in the Syrian detention camp, about 30 kilometres from the Iraqi border, are scheduled to be repatriated in the next few months after DNA testing confirms the children are born to Australian citizens.

Kamalle Dabboussy with his daughter Mariam Dabboussy in Australia. Picture: Supplied

Mariam Dabboussy with her husband Kaled Zahab.

The first group, assessed as being the most vulnerable of the 60 Australians at the camp, gave their DNA samples on October 15, according to the ABC News, which was first to report the flight.

Among those returning are Mariam Dabboussy and her three children. Her father, Sydney man Kamalle Dabboussy, has been an unofficial spokesman for the group of Australians detained in Syria.

While the Morrison government refused to repatriate more Australian women or children after the initial eight in 2019 due to security risks, the Albanese government reversed the policy and announced a plan to bring the women and children home.

Mr Albanese said on Friday his government had acted on national security advice just as his predecessors had done when the eight children were repatriated.

Mariam Dabboussy with her husband Kaled Zahab and their child.

“My government will always act to keep Australians safe and will always act on the advice of the national security agencies,” Mr Albanese told reporters.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton called on Mr Albanese to explain what security was in place to monitor the Islamic State women in Australia.

“Because we haven’t seen on our television screens an attack in Paris or London or Melbourne or Sydney for some time we think the threat has passed — it hasn’t passed,” he told Sky News.

“I received a briefing from the director-general of security only a couple of weeks ago … on my collective experience and what I know, I don’t think it’s in our country’s best interests.”

Other western countries like the United States, France and Germany have also been repatriating citizens from the Syrian detention camp, with Canada bringing its first two women home this week and immediately charging one with terrorism offences, and indicating the other would be placed on a terrorism bond.

Opposition Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said she was calling for a probe into how information on the repatriation was made public.

Kamalle Dabboussy reunites with his daughter Mariam Dabboussy and her three children in Syria. Source: ABC

“Sensitive missions risking the lives of Australians – including those that are in overseas camps – need to be treated carefully, and with due consideration of the information being made public,” Ms Andrews said in a statement.

“The Home Affairs Minister needs to come clean with how this level of information – before a mission or missions finish – is currently in the public domain.

“If it is a leak, the Prime Minister needs to call an investigation.”

Save the Children Australia CEO Mat Tinkler said the repatriation was an “important milestone” for these families.

“We highly commend the Australian government for following through on its promise to repatriate these innocent children and their mothers,” Mr Tinkler said.

“They have given these children hope for their futures and rightly backed the robustness of Australia’s national security, judicial and resettlement systems to support their safe integration into Australian society.

“As victims of war, they have had their childhoods taken away from them, facing horrors that no child should ever have to experience.”