Return of IS-linked families sparks debate in terror-traumatised Australia Tiffanie TurnbullandKaty Watson,SydneyAFP via ImagesA group of Australian women and children linked to IS arrived in the country on ThursdayAfter years spent detained in Syria, the freedom of the Islamic State group-linked families who landed back in their homeland of Australia this week was dramatically short lived.Three of the women were swiftly arrested. The fourth was left to confront a frenzied media scrum alone, small children in tow, with the knowledge she could be next.Australia has been eyeing their potential return with trepidation for years.It has been resisting pressure to claim dozens of its citizens - families members of men who fought for the so-called Islamic State (IS). They have been languishing in highly-guarded camps since the group lost its territorial control in Syria after a years-long military campaign by the US-led coalition and local allies.Australia is not alone in its reluctance to help these women and children: many others, including the UK, have also been wrestling with questions of security, rehabilitation and political responsibility.But as the country wallows in the fallout of its worst terrorist attack – a mass shooting allegedly inspired by IS at a Jewish event in Bondi Beach in December which left 15 dead – sentiment towards them has hardened.The prime minister has repeatedly said he has nothing but contempt for the group: "If you make your bed, you have to lie in it," has been Anthony Albanese's mantra.But amid increasingly volatile conditions, advocates say the predicament of the Australians still stuck in Syria is growing more dangerous and the need to get them home more desperate."The government want us to forget about them… [But] the quicker they come to Australia, the safer it is for all of Australia and for themselves," Sydney doctor Jamal Rifi told the BBC in an interview earlier this year, after an earlier bid to return by Australian IS families failed.Who are the women?The two camps where the families of IS fighters were channelled when the "caliphate" fell have long been described as a ticking time bomb - rife with violence, incubators for radicalisation, and an ever-growing humanitarian crisis.The largest, Al-Hol, was shut down in February after Syrian forces of the new government reclaimed the country, while the future of the remaining Al-Roj camp, in the country's north-east Kurdish region, is uncertain.There are about 2,000 people in Al-Roj, from dozens of countries which refuse to take them back - including Shamima Begum, who was stripped of her British citizenship after travelling to Syria as a 15-year-old and marrying an IS fighter.The BBC's Orla Guerin spoke to two women being held in north-eastern SyriaUntil last month, it was also the home of Janai Safar, 32, who landed in Sydney with her nine-year-old son on Thursday night, and has since been charged with terrorism offences.The former nursing student told The Australian newspaper back in 2019 that she didn't regret travelling to join IS, but "didn't train or kill anyone".Arriving in Melbourne at the same time was 33-year-old Zahra Ahmed, who spent years in the camp alongside her younger sister Zeinab, 31, and her 54-year-old mother Kawsar Abbas.They say they were trapped in Syria after travelling there for a family wedding, not realising the groom had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group - though authorities suspect the patriarch of the family had been funnelling cash to them."I didn't make this bed," Zahra told the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) in 2024."We are now forced to suffer for the decisions that other people - other male influencers - have made on our behalf, and now they're all gone, and we are left to suffer with our kids."Her mother and sister have been charged with crimes against humanity related to slavery.Getty ImagesThe families were accompanied by a relativeThe Australian Federal Police say Zahra Ahmed is still under investigation, and that the nine children who returned with the group will be asked to undergo community integration and countering violent extremism programmes.They were part of a larger group which in February left Al-Roj for Australia, but were turned back within hours due to "technical issues".
The camp administrators later told media they believed Syrian authorities had been spooked by Australia's insistence the women would not be welcomed back.Twenty-one Australians now remain in the camp, seven women and 14 children.Though details of their lives are scant, several of the women were only teenagers when they left Australia – including Kirsty Rosse-Emile, whose sister says she was groomed by a much-older extremist whom she married at 14.Even less is known about their children, many of whom have never known life outside the camps.Tense national debateThis isn't the first time that Australians linked to IS have returned home. A group of orphans was repatriated in 2019, and another 17 women and children were brought back in 2022.But after backlash from some in the community, the government said it would not help any others – though another two women quietly worked their way home in September.While all citizens have a legal right to return to their countries, there is little doubt most Australians would prefer these ones do not."They made their choice to go over there and be with their terrorist husbands, so let them stay there," Peter Cockburn, of Geelong, told the BBC at Melbourne airport. "It's a disgrace that both governments, state and federal, are letting them come back."Refugees who fled to Australia for safety from IS - many of whom survived massacres, slavery and sexual abuse at their hands - are particularly distressed."Imagine a Yazidi survivor encountering ISIS brides [here]," one such man named Sami told Australian public broadcaster SBS.But people like Rifi - an award-winning Western Sydney doctor - say
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