Why ‘Isis brides’ are attempting a return to Australia now after years in refugee camp – as Penny Wong warns they could be jailed when they arrive

The chaotic civil war in Syria drawing to an end and the US withdrawing from the region has given Australian women who married ISIS soldiers, and their children, a window to escape.

Among them are four women and nine children, all Australian citizens, who left the camp on Friday. 

They have all obtained Australian passports and airline tickets to leave Syria, but are likely to face intense security checks that could last several days in Damascus, the Syrian capital.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Monday indicated they could be arrested for the offence of travelling to a conflict zone and thrown in jail if they return. 

The Australian government has previously admitted it was legally obligated to issue passports, but warned the cohort would be met with ‘the full force of the law’ if they were found to have committed a crime.

Wong repeated that warning during her press conference in Adelaide, saying, ‘these are Australian citizens and the government is not assisting them to return… If they do, they will face the full force of the law’.

Defence Minister Richard Marles also told ABC Radio National on Monday the government is not involved in the repatriation of the families. 

‘The fundamental point to make is that the government is not involved in the repatriation of these people,’ he said.  ‘We are not providing any assistance for them to come back to Australia.’ 

A previous group of ‘Isis brides’ who returned under the Morrison government were not arrested and have resettled in Australia.

Marles said Australia’s intelligence agencies were closely monitoring the situation and would assess any security risks associated with people returning to the country.

The group of 13 are part of a larger group of 34 Australians, 11 women and 23 children, who previously attempted to leave Al-Roj refugee camp in February but were turned back by local authorities.

One of the women has been subject to a Temporary Exclusion Order, barring her return to Australia for up to two years while investigators consider potential criminal charges.

Al-Hawl and Al-Roj camps, both in north-eastern Syria, housed more than 70,000 prisoners during their peak in 2019 – including the Australian ISIS brides and children.

That region, along with the camps were run by a US-backed Kurdish military, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which helped defeat the Islamic State in 2019.

However, Kurdish control over those camps has been tentative since rebels toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024 and installed a new government under former fighter Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Ahmed al-Sharaa vowed to re-unify Syria following its lengthy civil war and in January seized the Al-Hawl camp, prompting thousands of prisoners to flee.

January also saw Syrian government fighters target the Kurdish SDF, who agreed to a ceasefire after a few days of violent clashes.

The terms of that ceasefire call for Kurdish military and civil structures to be gradually absorbed by the Syrian government, including Al-Roj camp where the Australians are being held.

The US also handed over its last major base in Syria to Ahmed al-Sharaa’s forces earlier this month.

It marked the end of almost a decade of US military in Syria to fight ISIS, and follows an admission by US officials that the SDF had outlived its usefulness. 

The handover of Al-Roj from Kurdish to Syrian forces has seen the camp agree to releasing prisoners with travel documents to their home countries.