Australian Families Turned Back After Departing Syria's Roj Camp in Failed Repatriation Attempt

The small convoy of passenger vans had barely cleared the dusty perimeter of Roj camp when the call came from Damascus: turn around. Thirty-four Australian citizens — women and children from eleven families linked to Islamic State fighters — were forced back to the heavily guarded detention facility in northeastern Syria on Monday, their first attempt at repatriation collapsing within an hour of departure Dozens of Australian ISIL relatives freed from Syria’s Roj campaljazeera.com·SecondaryKurdish authorities in Syria have released 34 Australian relatives of ISIL (ISIS) fighters who had been held in a camp in northern Syria, saying they would be flown to Australia from Damascus. A director of ⁠the Roj camp said on Monday that Australian citizens had been handed over to members of their families who had come to Syria for the release. “Today, we are handing over 11 families who hold Australian nationality to their relatives,” Hakmieh Ibrahim told the AFP news agency..

The episode exposed the chaotic state of a process that has left thousands of foreign nationals languishing in Syrian camps for nearly seven years, caught between governments reluctant to take them back and a rapidly shifting security landscape on the ground. The Australian families, most of whom have been held at Roj since 2019, are wives, widows, and children of dead or imprisoned IS fighters — none of them charged with any crime Australian women and children released from Syrian detention camptheguardian.com·SecondaryThe group of 34 – families of dead or jailed extremists – were prevented from returning to Australia by ‘poor coordination’ with Damascus Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian women and children held for years without charge were forced to return to a detention camp in northeast Syria on Monday after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia..

Hakmiyeh Ibrahim, the camp's director, told AFP that eleven families of Australian nationality were being transferred to their relatives, describing them as the last Australians remaining in the Roj camp Dozens of Australian ISIL relatives freed from Syria’s Roj campaljazeera.com·SecondaryKurdish authorities in Syria have released 34 Australian relatives of ISIL (ISIS) fighters who had been held in a camp in northern Syria, saying they would be flown to Australia from Damascus. A director of ⁠the Roj camp said on Monday that Australian citizens had been handed over to members of their families who had come to Syria for the release. “Today, we are handing over 11 families who hold Australian nationality to their relatives,” Hakmieh Ibrahim told the AFP news agency.. The families had been handed over to relatives who traveled from Australia to coordinate the repatriation privately. But Rashid Omar, a camp administrator, said Damascus officials contacted the convoy about an hour into the journey to say that departure procedures remained incomplete, forcing the group to return Australian women and children released from Syrian detention camptheguardian.com·SecondaryThe group of 34 – families of dead or jailed extremists – were prevented from returning to Australia by ‘poor coordination’ with Damascus Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian women and children held for years without charge were forced to return to a detention camp in northeast Syria on Monday after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia..

The Guardian reported that the repatriation had not been organized by the Australian government and that it was unclear whether the group possessed valid travel documents . Canberra has maintained a firm position, with a spokesperson stating that Australian security agencies continue to monitor the situation in Syria and that individuals who have committed crimes and return to Australia will be met with full legal consequences Dozens of Australian ISIL relatives freed from Syria’s Roj campaljazeera.com·SecondaryKurdish authorities in Syria have released 34 Australian relatives of ISIL (ISIS) fighters who had been held in a camp in northern Syria, saying they would be flown to Australia from Damascus. A director of ⁠the Roj camp said on Monday that Australian citizens had been handed over to members of their families who had come to Syria for the release. “Today, we are handing over 11 families who hold Australian nationality to their relatives,” Hakmieh Ibrahim told the AFP news agency..

This stance has drawn sustained criticism from humanitarian organizations and some national security experts who argue that leaving citizens in deteriorating camps creates more risks than it mitigates. Mat Tinkler, chief executive of Save the Children Australia, said the organization did not fund or undertake repatriations, but argued that the reports underscored warnings from national security experts that unmanaged returns would become inevitable without federal government action. He said innocent children had already lost years of their childhood and deserved the chance to rebuild their lives safely in Australia Australian women and children released from Syrian detention camptheguardian.com·SecondaryThe group of 34 – families of dead or jailed extremists – were prevented from returning to Australia by ‘poor coordination’ with Damascus Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian women and children held for years without charge were forced to return to a detention camp in northeast Syria on Monday after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia..

The American security establishment has been equally blunt in its assessment, albeit for different reasons. Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, told a UN conference in September that the camps were incubators for radicalisation and that inaction was not an option, warning that the problem would only get worse with time. He urged every nation with detained or displaced personnel in Syria to return its citizens Australian women and children released from Syrian detention camptheguardian.com·SecondaryThe group of 34 – families of dead or jailed extremists – were prevented from returning to Australia by ‘poor coordination’ with Damascus Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian women and children held for years without charge were forced to return to a detention camp in northeast Syria on Monday after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia..

The broader context makes Monday's failed departure all the more significant. Roj camp currently holds approximately 2,200 people from around 50 nationalities, while the much larger al-Hol camp — which housed 25,000 IS-affiliated residents from 42 countries as recently as last month — has been rapidly emptying out . Syrian government forces seized control of al-Hol during fighting with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) last month, and Damascus has taken a markedly different approach to the detention question, viewing indefinite incarceration as unsustainable Australian women and children released from Syrian detention camptheguardian.com·SecondaryThe group of 34 – families of dead or jailed extremists – were prevented from returning to Australia by ‘poor coordination’ with Damascus Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian women and children held for years without charge were forced to return to a detention camp in northeast Syria on Monday after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia..

The UN refugee agency reported Sunday that a large number of al-Hol residents have already left, with the Syrian government planning to relocate those remaining to a new facility near Aleppo featuring prefabricated housing and — in a stark contrast to the barbed-wire camps of the northeast — no locked gate Australian women and children released from Syrian detention camptheguardian.com·SecondaryThe group of 34 – families of dead or jailed extremists – were prevented from returning to Australia by ‘poor coordination’ with Damascus Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian women and children held for years without charge were forced to return to a detention camp in northeast Syria on Monday after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia.. Some former detainees have made their way independently back to their home countries, with a Belgian woman returning to Brussels last weekend and being immediately arrested upon arrival Australian women and children released from Syrian detention camptheguardian.com·SecondaryThe group of 34 – families of dead or jailed extremists – were prevented from returning to Australia by ‘poor coordination’ with Damascus Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian women and children held for years without charge were forced to return to a detention camp in northeast Syria on Monday after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia..

Separately, the U.S. military completed the transfer of approximately 5,700 accused male IS militants from northeastern Syrian detention centers to Iraqi prisons on Friday, a massive logistical operation that has drawn concern from rights groups over conditions in Iraqi facilities and the lack of judicial proceedings for the transferred men Australian women and children released from Syrian detention camptheguardian.com·SecondaryThe group of 34 – families of dead or jailed extremists – were prevented from returning to Australia by ‘poor coordination’ with Damascus Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian women and children held for years without charge were forced to return to a detention camp in northeast Syria on Monday after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia..

Australia's track record on repatriation has been halting and politically fraught. The government successfully brought back eight orphaned children in 2019 and four women with 13 children in 2022, but has consistently refused to organize further operations Australian women and children released from Syrian detention camptheguardian.com·SecondaryThe group of 34 – families of dead or jailed extremists – were prevented from returning to Australia by ‘poor coordination’ with Damascus Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian women and children held for years without charge were forced to return to a detention camp in northeast Syria on Monday after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia.. In 2024, then-Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil was reportedly preparing a repatriation plan for cabinet approval, but the effort stalled amid concerns about political backlash in electorally critical western Sydney seats — despite the fact that many of the detained Australians are from Victoria Australian women and children released from Syrian detention camptheguardian.com·SecondaryThe group of 34 – families of dead or jailed extremists – were prevented from returning to Australia by ‘poor coordination’ with Damascus Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian women and children held for years without charge were forced to return to a detention camp in northeast Syria on Monday after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia..

In October 2025, two women and four children managed to escape al-Hol camp on their own, making their way across Syria to Lebanon, where they obtained passports at the Australian embassy and flew home commercially Australian women and children released from Syrian detention camptheguardian.com·SecondaryThe group of 34 – families of dead or jailed extremists – were prevented from returning to Australia by ‘poor coordination’ with Damascus Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian women and children held for years without charge were forced to return to a detention camp in northeast Syria on Monday after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia.. That episode highlighted the government's contradictory position: refusing to organize repatriations while processing citizens who manage to reach an embassy independently.

The case of Shamima Begum, the most internationally recognized detainee at Roj, illustrates the broader Western paralysis on the issue. The UK-born woman, who left London at 15 to marry an IS fighter in 2015, had her British citizenship revoked in 2019 and recently lost her final appeal against that decision. Born to Bangladeshi parents, she does not hold Bangladeshi citizenship either, leaving her effectively stateless and still confined to Roj Dozens of Australian ISIL relatives freed from Syria’s Roj campaljazeera.com·SecondaryKurdish authorities in Syria have released 34 Australian relatives of ISIL (ISIS) fighters who had been held in a camp in northern Syria, saying they would be flown to Australia from Damascus. A director of ⁠the Roj camp said on Monday that Australian citizens had been handed over to members of their families who had come to Syria for the release. “Today, we are handing over 11 families who hold Australian nationality to their relatives,” Hakmieh Ibrahim told the AFP news agency..

Conditions in the camp have steadily deteriorated. Human Rights Watch has documented inhuman, degrading, and life-threatening conditions, including dysentery and influenza outbreaks that spread rapidly through overcrowded tent settlements, particularly among malnourished children. One Australian child developed frostbite during a previous winter. Heating fuel supplies are reportedly dwindling, and IS continues to attempt to infiltrate the facilities and recruit among residents Australian women and children released from Syrian detention camptheguardian.com·SecondaryThe group of 34 – families of dead or jailed extremists – were prevented from returning to Australia by ‘poor coordination’ with Damascus Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian women and children held for years without charge were forced to return to a detention camp in northeast Syria on Monday after being released by Kurdish authorities for their expected repatriation to Australia..

Critics of the repatriation push — particularly in Australia's conservative circles — argue that bringing back individuals connected to IS, even women and children, poses legitimate security risks and that the government's cautious approach reflects a reasonable prioritization of domestic safety. Canberra's explicit warning about legal consequences for returnees suggests any future arrivals would be subject to intensive surveillance and potential prosecution Dozens of Australian ISIL relatives freed from Syria’s Roj campaljazeera.com·SecondaryKurdish authorities in Syria have released 34 Australian relatives of ISIL (ISIS) fighters who had been held in a camp in northern Syria, saying they would be flown to Australia from Damascus. A director of ⁠the Roj camp said on Monday that Australian citizens had been handed over to members of their families who had come to Syria for the release. “Today, we are handing over 11 families who hold Australian nationality to their relatives,” Hakmieh Ibrahim told the AFP news agency..

The fundamental tension remains unresolved: Western governments, including Australia, the UK, France, and Germany, have spent years resisting repatriations while the camps themselves are dissolving under the pressure of Syria's shifting military dynamics. With Damascus now controlling much of the northeast and taking a less restrictive approach to detention, the managed repatriation that security experts have long advocated is being overtaken by an unmanaged dispersal that arguably creates the very risks governments sought to avoid.

For the 34 Australians now back behind the wire at Roj camp, Monday's aborted departure only deepened the uncertainty. Whether their families can resolve the procedural issues with Damascus, whether Canberra will eventually relent, or whether they will attempt to leave through other channels remains an open question — one that grows more urgent as the camp system that has confined them for seven years rapidly disintegrates around them.