Security Agencies on Alert as ISIS ‘Brides,’ Children Eye Return to Australia

Australia’s security agencies are on alert as a group of ISIS-linked women and children prepare to return from Syria.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the government was not involved in organising the group’s return but confirmed intelligence agencies were closely monitoring the situation.

“We have complete faith and confidence in them (intelligence agencies) monitor the security, [and] monitor the situation in respect of everyone who is coming into the country and where there are security concerns,” he told ABC Radio on April 27.

According to media reports, four women and nine children left the al-Roj camp on April 24 and travelled to Damascus, with plans to fly to Australia. A source told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that tickets had been secured.

However, a government source told the AAP that none of the 13 individuals had booked flights.

Around 30 women and children have been seeking to return to Australia for years after travelling to the Middle East with men linked to ISIS prior to the group’s defeat in 2019.

Meanwhile, the Home Affairs Departments said authorities were prepared for their possible return and warned of consequences for any wrongdoing.

“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,” a Home Affairs spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

One woman has already been barred from entering Australia over security concerns, with a Temporary Exclusion Order (TEO) imposed on her in February this year.

A TEO gives the home affairs minister power to block Australians aged 14 and over from returning for up to two years if they pose a security risk.

One Nation has called for tougher measures on the group, with MP Barnaby Joyce saying more exclusion orders should be considered.

“These are women … who were a party to some of the most horrendous crimes in the history of the world,” he told Seven’s Sunrise.

“If we’ve got a temporary exclusion on one, we should be doing everything to get a temporary exclusion on the lot.

“Australia does not welcome them home.”

Earlier this year, the Opposition also pushed to criminalise assistance to individuals trying to return to Australia, arguing it would close a loophole allowing “self-managed returns” through third parties. The proposal did not pass after failing to secure government support.