Australians with alleged IS ties are turned back after departing Syrian camp for repatriation

Syrian authorities have turned back a group of Australian women and children after they left a camp in Syria housing people with alleged ties to Islamic State militants in an attempt to head back to their home country. Relatives of the 34 individuals, from 11 families, traveled from Australia to accompany them, according to the director of the Roj camp. The plan was to head to Damascus on Monday and then fly to Australia. Roj holds about 2,200 people from around 50 nationalities, mostly women and children. Most are not technically prisoners. The fate of the Roj camp and the similar but larger al-Hol camp has been a matter of debate for years.