Australia's ISIS brides and their kids are coming home

A secret mission to rescue Islamic State families in Syria is complete.

A secret mission to rescue Islamic State families in Syria is complete.

Australian spies have completed a secret mission that will now see the families of Islamic State members return home to Australia.

There are 16 women and 42 children being held in the al-Roj detention camp near the Iraqi border. 

They have been held without charge in Syria for more than three years following the collapse of ISIS at Baghouz back in March 2019.

The ASIO mission involved months of investigations, here and abroad, and was finalised in late August and early September after representatives carried out final visits to the detention compound.

Australian women and children at the Al-Hawl camp in northeast Syria Picture: Supplied

Their visit to the camps came after The Australian revealed back in July that a push was on to finally repatriate the families, amid fears their continued detention was leading to a national security and humanitarian disaster.

The Australian also revealed that an Australian child, Yusuf Zahab, locked up in prison since the age of 14, appeared to have died in the prison system at the age of 17.

During the mission final - the first known since ASIO's visit to northeastern Syria since 2019 - "risk assessments" of the group and their extended families in Australia have also been carried out by government officials. 

The families are likely to head back to Australia in stages over the next couple of months. Those considered "most vulnerable" will be the first in line.

"The Syrian Democratic Forces, tasked with securing the camps, have told the Australian women in al-Roj to prepare to go home," The Australian reported on Monday.

Since the fall of Islamic State, the US is the de facto government of the region now known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. 

Smoke rises from the Islamic State (IS) group's last remaining position in the village of Baghouz during battles with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in the countryside of the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor on March 18, 2019. - A shroud of black smoke covered the Islamic State group's last Syria redoubt today as US-backed forces battled holdout jihadists after a night of shelling and heavy air strikes. The Kurdish-led SDF have been closing in on IS fighters holed up in a small sliver of territory in the village of Baghouz in eastern Syria since January. (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP)

The Aussie women - some are wives of ISIS members who were killed in combat - were asked if they wished to return to Australia and now the US forces will help with their repatriation.

The most "vulnerable" people will head out first.

These will be the women who were trafficked or coerced by their parents, family or husbands to leave Australia and travel to Syria.

"It is highly likely these women will face no charges when they return to Australia," The Australian's associate editor Ellen Whinnet said.

Whinnet has traveled to the region and reported on the situation for years and said other women returned later would potentially face charges of entering the proscribed area of al-Raqqa.

State agencies in Melbourne and Sydney, including police, housing, child welfare and justice, are readying for the families to ­return.

Significant work will be done to help them readjust and reintegrate into society.

When they arrive, all of the women will be monitored by a number of agencies, including state and federal polices and ASIO.

That is due to them all agreeing to submit to control orders.

Most of them are sick and some are injured.

All the women and children have been subjected to trauma.

What about the kids?

Some of the children have never been to school.

Five were born in the detention camps, and dozens were either born under Islamic State rule or were too young to remember life in Australia before their parents took them to Syria.

It is believed the government's national security committee of cabinet approved the plan several weeks ago to start bringing the families back to Australia.

Australian women and children at al-Roj camp in northeastern Syria are expected to be repatriated to Australia soon. 📸: Ellen Whinnett / The Australian

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil’s spokesman said: “The Australian government’s over­riding priority is the protection of Australians and Australia’s nat­ional interest, informed by nat­ional security advice. Given the sensitive nature of the matters involved, it would not be appropriate to comment further.”

Save the Children Australia chief executive Mat Tinkler, who has been campaigning for years for the women and children to be brought home, said it would be "welcome news" if they were returned.

"For more than three years, these children have been trapped in one of the worst places in the world to be a child and their situation has been growing increasingly desperate. I saw these conditions first-hand when I travelled to Roj camp in northeast Syria in June," he said.

"Australian children are poorly nourished, suffering from untreated shrapnel wounds and the situation is impacting their mental health. They are just hanging on."

The first families are likely to be returned to Sydney, with other families to return later to ­Melbourne.