Beirut– A group of Australian women and children who left a camp in Syria allegedly housing people with links to Islamic State group militants have been trapped there. Country Syrian officials said on Wednesday, as Australian authorities have refused to allow their return.
Thirteen women and children from four families left last week Rose CampA remote facility near the border with Iraq where relatives of suspected militants are housed moved toward the Syrian capital on Friday.
an officer in the camp in those days Said families are expected to stay in Damascus for about 72 hours and then be flown to Australia.
In response to inquiries from The Associated Press about their situation, Syria’s Ministry of Information said in a statement that after the families left the camp, the Foreign Ministry was informed that “the Australian government has refused to receive them.”
The Information Ministry statement said they were turned away upon arriving at Damascus International Airport.
“These families are still waiting for a solution, which can only be achieved through coordination with relevant international parties.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at a news conference on Wednesday that “we are not providing any support for the repatriation of these people and for them.”
Syria’s Information Ministry said the families, through a lawyer, had obtained passports that were delivered by an “individual” who was not identified while they were still in northeastern Syria, in an area controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF.
Jamal Rifi, a Lebanese-Australian doctor, previously told Australian media that he was helping coordinate the repatriation effort. Rifi could not be reached for comment.
A previous attempt to repatriate 34 women and children from the camp to Australia in February was turned back by Syrian authorities.
Former IS fighters from many countries were accompanied by their wives and children. Organized into a network of camps and a detention center in northeastern Syria after the terrorist group lost control of its territory in Syria in 2019. Although defeated, the group still has sleeper cells that carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq.
Big Al-Hol Camp It has now been closed, and thousands of suspected IS militants previously captured in Syria were transferred by US forces to Iraq for trial.
The measures followed fighting between government forces and the SDF in January. Government forces seized most of the territory previously held by the SDF. Amid the chaos, many detainees fled al-Hol and some prisoners escaped from a detention center.
Australian governments have sent back Australian women and children from Syrian detention camps on two occasions. Other Australians have also returned without government assistance.
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Rod McGuirk contributed to this report from Melbourne, Australia.
