Estranged children of Australian mum Sally Faulkner send her a heartfelt video message to tell her ‘everything is good’ five years after they were taken to Lebanon in ugly custody battle
- Sally Faulkner and her two estranged children have shared heartfelt message
- She claims her children were taken on holiday to Lebanon and never returned
- The saga caused an international incident after a 60 Minutes crew were arrested
An Australian mother-of-two whose estranged children are living in Lebanon has shared a heartfelt message for the kids six years after she claims they were taken on a Middle Eastern holiday by their father and never returned.
Sally Faulkner was living in Australia with her partner Ali Elamine and their two children Lahela and Noah, when Mr Elamine flew them to Beirut in 2015.
A bitter international custody battle played out culminating in a 60 Minutes film crew being arrested and detained in Lebanon after an alleged operation to recover the children went horribly wrong.
Sally Faulkner (pictured centre) was living in Australia with her partner Ali Elamine and their two children Lahela (left) and Noah (right), when Mr Elamine flew them to Beirut in 2015
But in a video uploaded to their mother’s Instagram, Lahela, 9, and Noah, 7, appear to be doing well and exchanged a heartwarming message with their mother.
‘Hi mummy, hope your evening is going good, I think it’s evening or night, we also are going to send through another video for Izac and Eli … hope everything is good,’ Lahela said.
Since the fallout from the international saga, Ms Faulkner has had two other children – Eli and Izac – with her new partner Brendan Pierce.
In a separate video, Ms Faulkner is seen with her young son Izac laying in bed.
‘I love you Lahela, I love you Noah,’ Izac said with his dummy in his mouth.
Sally Faulkner (pictured right holding Noah) and former partner Ali Elamine (pictured left holding Lahela) were locked in a bitter international custody battle
Ms Faulkner turned to the camera and said her toddler would love to play with his older brother and sister – and play ‘wrestle and tackle’ with Noah.
‘We love Lahela and Noah so much too, that’s a little video from your baby brother Izac,’ Ms Faulkner said.
In the years since she last saw Lahela and Noah, Ms Faulkner has worked as a flight attendant and in childcare.
The custody battle made headlines all over the globe when four 60 Minutes crew members, including star reporter Tara Brown, spent two weeks detained in Lebanon in 2016.
The Channel Nine team were arrested for trying to return the two infants to Australian mother Sally Faulkner, who claimed her estranged husband had taken the kids overseas and refused to return them.
Ms Brown, cameraman Ben Williamson, sound recordist David Ballment and producer Stephen Rice were all arrested while filming the recovery of the children and were charged with kidnapping, assault, hiding information and criminal conspiracy.
After two weeks, all charges were dropped and the crew returned to home – without the children.