What in the world changed to allow the so-called IS brides home?

May 22, 2026 — 7:00pm

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When a group of women and children arrived in Australia from their Syrian detention camp in early May, they were the first Islamic State-linked cohort in the world to be brought back by their families over the objections of their government.

Until then, confirms family advocate Jamal Rifi, Syrian authorities would only repatriate so-called IS brides to Western countries with official government approval. It was a position that for seven years had kept dozens of Australian women and children in squalid and dangerous conditions as successive governments refused to act.

The May transfer was successful, but the path to it was anything but smooth.

Three months earlier, in February, Rifi and two supporters, armed with freshly printed Australian passports, had helped 34 Australian women and children depart the al-Roj camp – only for the Syrian government to turn them around 50 kilometres down the road and send them back.

Syrian officials made it clear they would not allow the women and children to board a flight because the Australian government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would not accept them when they arrived.

This was not precisely Albanese’s position, but he did make it clear that welcoming them home was the last thing he wanted to do. He had “nothing but contempt” for them, he repeatedly said.

More ISIS brides begin the journey home as new poll reveals Australians oppose their return

Fast forward three months, and the Syrian government’s position reversed. On May 7, grandmother Kawsar Abbas, her two daughters and a Sydney-based relative........

© The Sydney Morning Herald