Households of 34 Australians are set to depart from Damascus, Kurdish authorities say.
Printed On 16 Feb 2026
Kurdish authorities in Syria have launched 34 Australian kinfolk of ISIL (ISIS) fighters who had been held in a camp in northern Syria, saying they might be flown to Australia from Damascus.
A director of the Roj camp stated on Monday that Australian residents had been handed over to members of their households who had come to Syria for the discharge.
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“Immediately, we’re handing over 11 households who maintain Australian nationality to their kinfolk,” Hakmieh Ibrahim informed the AFP information company.
“These households are the final Australians within the Roj camp,” she added. Ibrahim revealed that 2,201 individuals with about 50 nationalities have been nonetheless residing within the camp.
They have been placed on small buses for Damascus earlier than their departure from the nation. A navy automobile escorted the buses.
1000’s of individuals believed to be linked to ISIL have been held at Roj and a second camp, al-Hol, for the reason that armed group was pushed from its closing territorial foothold in Syria in 2019.
Syrian authorities forces took management of al-Hol final month throughout fighting with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which led to state forces seizing many of the territory in northeastern Syria beforehand managed by Kurdish forces.
‘Security of Australians overriding precedence’
The Australian authorities stated in an announcement that it’s going to not repatriate individuals from Syria.
“Our safety companies have been monitoring – and proceed to observe – the state of affairs in Syria to make sure they’re ready for any Australians in search of to return to Australia.
“Folks on this cohort must know that if they’ve dedicated a criminal offense and in the event that they return to Australia they are going to be met with the total drive of the regulation.
“The security of Australians and the safety of Australia’s nationwide pursuits stay the overriding precedence.”
The British NGO Save The Youngsters warned in January that 20,000 youngsters in camps in northeastern Syria confronted being “harmed, exploited or coerced by armed actors” because the safety state of affairs within the area declines and known as on nations to repatriate their civilians from the camps.
Governments around the globe, together with the UK, have been sluggish to carry again their residents. Essentially the most well-known resident of the Roj camp, UK-born Shamima Begum, was 15 when she and two different women fled from London in 2015 to marry ISIL fighters in Syria.
In 2019, the UK authorities revoked her citizenship quickly after she was found in a detention camp in Syria.
Since then, she has challenged the choice, which was turned down by an appeals courtroom in February 2024. Born in Britain to Bangladeshi mother and father, Begum doesn’t maintain Bangladeshi citizenship. She continues to be within the Roj camp.
