The first of two planes carrying ISIS brides to Australia lands – as police are due to charge some of the 19-strong group

Updated: 03:28 EDT, 26 May 2026

The first of two planes carrying a total 19 of women and children linked to Islamic State has landed in Australia, with some expected to face charges.

Four women and six children were scheduled to land in Sydney at 5.30pm on Qatar Airways flight QR908 from Doha, while two women and seven children were scheduled to land in Melbourne at 5.15pm.

But it is understood that one of the flights had landed early, with footage on Sky News showing a plane taxiing to a terminal.

Some of the children are reportedly dealing with medical complications.

Police said that ‘operational arrangements have been put in place’ for their return.

Sydney flight minutes from touching down

The flight from Doha to Sydney carrying four women and six children formerly linked to terror group ISIS are due to land in the coming minutes.

It comes after the flight to Melbourne, carrying two women and seven children, landed early.

Several armed guards were seen patrolling Sydney International Airport in preparation for the women and children’s arrival.

One ISIS bride stopped from boarding plane to Australia

Hodan Abby has been banned from returning to Australia on national security grounds under a government-issued temporary exclusion order and is understood to have remained overseas with her child.

Daily Mail understands Abby and her child had secured flights home but were turned away at the airport due to the exclusion order.

Abby was given the option of allowing her daughter to return to Australia with the other mothers because the child is not subject to the order, but she declined. Syrian authorities in Damascus said they would care for them.

Abby’s family has hired Birchgrove Legal principal solicitor Moustafa Kheir to fight the exclusion order, which is due to remain in place until February 2028.

After fleeing her western Sydney home with a friend at the age of 18, Abby spent years trapped in Kurdish-run camps with her daughter, who suffered shrapnel wounds to her head, hip and back.

Her daughter, now aged nine, lives with disabilities and ongoing speech and movement impairments as a result of her injuries.