Australia Urged to Repatriate Islamic State Widow from Syrian Camp  

SYDNEY - Family members of alleged Islamic State militants held in Syrian camps are urging the Australian government to repatriate dozens of its citizens.

Kamalle Dabboussy’s Sydney-born daughter Mariam and her three young children are being held at the al-Roj refugee camp in north-east Syria. They are among about 60 Australians stranded there. The Australian government has said it was too dangerous for diplomatic staff to visit the region to try to bring them home.  Dabboussy believes the security situation is stable enough for his daughter and grandchildren to be brought home, but he has warned that volatility in the region could return at any time.  It is estimated that 10,000 suspected widows and children of former Islamic State fighters are among 70,000 people held in the al-Roj and al-Hawl detention camps, according to Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, a U.S.-based foreign policy think tank, most are Iraqi and Syrian nationals. They were taken to the facilities after the jihadist group was defeated in 2019.