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Updated February 17, 2026 — 12:50pm,first published 12:13pm
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared he has no sympathy for a cohort of 34 ISIS-linked Australian families attempting to re-enter the country, saying the government would not provide any assistance to the group.
“We have a very firm view that we won’t be providing assistance or repatriation,” Albanese said on ABC Radio.
The prime minister’s position seems to conflict with statements of the camp’s governor, Hakamia Ibrahim, who told a journalist in Syria overnight that the Australian government had “issued passports and the necessary documents for the families, and informed their relatives to receive their loved ones from the camp”. Her statement can be seen below:
The group of 34 women and children began their journey back to Australia late on Monday before being forced to return to the Roj refugee camp.
The effort, which is known as a “family-led repatriation,” is being organised by western Sydney doctor and Muslim community figure Jamal Rifi, according to sources who cannot be identified because they are not authorised to speak publicly.
Rifi is close to Home Affairs minister Tony Burke, and spearheaded the “Friends of Tony Burke” campaign to re-elect Burke in the seat of Watson at the last election. He is believed to be organising the effort on the ground in the Middle East.
Attempts to reach Dr Rifi have been unsuccessful.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and a spokesman for Foreign Minister Penny Wong have not clarified what documents, if any, the Australian government issued to allow the families to travel on Monday.
Albanese said if the group made it to Australia they would “face the full force of the law”.
Liberal senator Jonno Duniam called for the government to impose temporary exclusion orders on the women to prevent them from returning to Australia.
Duniam, who served as opposition home affairs spokesman until last week’s Liberal leadership change, said that “the government must commit 100 per cent to doing everything to prevent these people from re-entering Australia while they present a risk”.
A spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in relation to Duniam’s call that the government was “constantly receiving advice from our agencies about whether the threshold for temporary exclusion orders has been met,” and would “always act in accordance with advice”.
Albanese said in the ABC interview that: “Australian law applies and there are obligations that Australian officials have.”
This is a reference to the requirement under Australian law for the government to assist citizens stranded without a passport overseas if they present themselves to an Australian embassy.
Documents released in estimates late on Tuesday now demonstrate that the 37 remaining women and children could be extracted by the American military without Australians having to set foot in the country.
An August letter to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, written by the representative of the families, Kamalle Dabboussy, and the head of Save the Children Australia, Mat Tinkler, says the families were prepared to “take control of their own destiny”.
“The US government has offered to provide support for repatriations … The support will be provided by Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, Syria TCN Repatriations Team – a unit specifically designed to facilitate the repatriation of foreign nationals and with a track record of doing so safely and securely,” the letter said.
The Americans have long urged other countries to bring their own citizens home, with US Admiral Brad Cooper saying it was an issue of global security. He said in September that “repatriation reduces opportunity for extremist influence”.
Advocates for the families told this masthead last year that, since 2022, when Albanese adopted the “no assistance” stance, the wives and children of former Islamic State fighters have been required to find their own way to an embassy – the closest being in Beirut.
When two women and four children were smuggled out of the Syrian camp, al-Hawl, and into Lebanon last year, they were given passports to return to Melbourne.
But until now, the government’s stance has effectively trapped dozens of women and children in the better-regulated al-Roj camp in north-east Syria. It also precluded an offer by the American military to assist.
Albanese adopted a hard line on the repatriations on Tuesday, telling the ABC: “My mother would have said ‘If you make your bed you lie in it’.
“These people went overseas supporting Islamic State and went there to provide support for people who basically want a caliphate … We want to make it clear, as we have, to the people involved, if there are any breaches of the law, they will face the full force of the Australian law.”
The Albanese government helped organise the repatriation of four Australian women and their 13 children to Sydney in October 2022, prompting a minor backlash from local communities.
In an interview with local media, the camp governor explained what had happened after that.
“Previously there were also deportations of some families,” Ibrahim said, according to the translation provided by Kurdish media. “The deportation was carried out through coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs, through which they were transferred to their respective countries.
“The Australian government later stated that it was facing certain policy-related issues and was therefore unable to repatriate additional families.”
Ibrahim told this masthead the promised departure to the Syrian capital, Damascus, then to Australia, had been paused for an unspecified period of time. The official insisted, “It’s not cancelled, it’s postponed”.
It’s unclear what caused the delay, but local sources say there had been a disagreement between the Syrian government in Damascus, the Kurdish administration that runs the camp, and the Australian families who are organising the repatriation.
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