13 ISIS Women and Children Just Booked Flights Back to Australia-and Here's What Happens Next

They’re coming home, and Australia is ready to pounce.

Thirteen women and children with ties to Islamic State have booked flights back to Australia after languishing for years in the al-Roj camp in northern Syria. But don’t expect a warm welcome-authorities learned about the booking just hours before tickets were purchased, and they’re prepared to arrest certain members immediately upon arrival.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke made the explosive announcement on Wednesday, stressing that the Australian government has “not and will not provide” any financial assistance to these returnees. “These are people who have made the horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation,” Burke declared to media, his words cutting through the moral complexity of the situation.

The group consists of four women and nine children who departed the Syrian camp in February but mysteriously returned for “technical reasons”-a detail that raises immediate questions about what went wrong during their initial escape attempt. They’re part of a larger cohort of 34 individuals believed to include IS widows and children of fighters.

Here’s where it gets serious: Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett confirmed that “some individuals will be arrested and charged” the moment they touch down on Australian soil. But the AFP isn’t going in blind. For over a decade, investigators have been meticulously collecting evidence on whether members of the group committed terrorism offences or crimes against humanity, including slave trading.

Barrett stopped short of revealing exactly how many from the returning 13 would face immediate arrest. Those who escape immediate prosecution won’t slip through the cracks-they’ll remain under investigation while being subjected to “community integration programs, therapeutic support and countering violent extremism programs.”

Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), struck a cautiously measured tone, saying he’s not “concerned immediately” by the group’s return but “they will get our attention as you’d expect.” Translation: one wrong move and joint counter-terrorism teams will be watching.

Of the larger 34-person cohort, 23 are children-a troubling reminder of how IS ensnared entire families into its brutal ideology. Australia has already previewed its hardline approach by banning one member of the group under a “temporary exclusion order” earlier this year, preventing their return for up to two years.

Australia isn’t alone in taking this stance. France, the Netherlands, and the UK have similarly refused to repatriate most of their citizens still trapped in Syrian camps, reflecting a global consensus that these cases demand accountability, not mercy.