After a failed attempt, Australian families again attempt repatriation from Syria’s Roj camp

ROJ CAMP, Syria (AP) — Four Australian families on Friday left a camp in Syria that houses people with alleged ties to militants of the Islamic State group, in a renewed attempt to return to their home country, officials said.

Associated Press journalists saw 13 women and children depart Roj camp, a remote facility near the border with Iraq that houses family members of suspected IS militants, in a bus escorted by a delegation of Syrian government officials.

Lana Hussein, an official with the Women’s Protection Units of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which manages security at the camp, said the departure of the families was organized in coordination with the central government in Damascus.

She said the families were expected to remain in Damascus for a period of around 72 hours and then “they will be deported under security procedures.”

Representatives of the Syrian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television on Saturday “this government is not participating in the repatriation of people in this circumstance.”

Australian security agencies would continue to monitor the situation in Syria to ensure they are prepared for any Australians seeking to return to Australia, a government statement said.

“People in this cohort need to know that if they have committed a crime and if they return to Australia they will be met with the full force of the law,” the government said.

Under Australian law, it was an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison to travel to Raqqa in Syria and elsewhere in the caliphate without a legitimate reason from 2014 to 2017.

“The safety of Australians and the protection of Australia’s national interests remain the overriding priority,” the statement added.

A previous attempt to return 34 women and children to Australia from the camp in February was aborted after being turned back by Syrian authorities. Australian authorities at the time said they would not repatriate the families, and the Australian government later issued a temporary exclusion order banning one of the women from returning.

Roj camp is in an area of northeast Syria controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, but the Australians had planned to fly out of Damascus.

Camp officials said at the time that the planned repatriations were organized by family members of the returnees rather than directly by Australian authorities.

Former Islamic State fighters from multiple countries, their wives and children, were held in a network of camps and detention centers in northeast Syria after the militant group lost control of its territory in Syria in 2019. Though defeated, the group still has sleeper cells that carry out deadly attacks in both Syria and Iraq.

The larger al-Hol camp has now been closed down, while thousands of suspected IS militants previously held in Syria were transferred to Iraq by the U.S. military to stand trial there.

The moves came after fighting broke out between government forces and the SDF in January. Government forces seized much of the territory formerly held by the SDF. Amid the chaos and clashes, many detainees fled al-Hol and some prisoners escaped from a detention center.

Australian governments have repatriated Australian women and children from Syrian detention camps on two occasions. Other Australians have also returned without government assistance.

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Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut and Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, contributed.