ISIS kids back in Australia: Slain terrorist Khaled Sharrouf’s surviving children arrive home in top-secret operation after they were rescued from Syria
The surviving children of notorious terrorist Khaled Sharrouf are back on Australian soil.
The Sharrouf children, who spent about five years in Syria under Islamic State’s Caliphate, are understood to have arrived on Sunday night, The Australian reported.
Their arrival comes a week after a top secret operation saw the children collected by a local aid agency and driven to a coalition-controlled area of Iraq.
Their final destination is classified for security reasons.
Zaynab Sharrouf (pictured right) was rescued on Sunday. She is pictured with her siblings Hoda (left) and Humzeh (centre) who are still alive and Abdullah (second from left) and Zarqawi (second from right) who are believed to be dead
Slain IS fighter Khaled Sharrouf (pictured) brought his wife and children to Syria during the height of the so-called caliphate
The traumatised children were transported through the Middle East before they coming home, where authorities will reintegrate them.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed the rescue operation last week.
‘Repatriating these children was not a decision the Australian government made lightly,’ he said.
‘Australia’s national security and the safety of our people and personnel have always been our most important considerations in this matter.’
Zaynab Sharrouf, 17, and her two toddlers Ayesha, three, and Fatimah, two, were among eight children collected by a vehicle convoy at a refugee camp in northern Syria.
Zaynab, Hoda, 16, Humzeh, eight, Abdullah, 12 and Zarqawi, 11, were taken to Syria by their mother and Sharrouf’s wife Tara Nettleton.
Sharrouf and their two oldest sons, Abdullah and Zarqawi, are all believed to have been killed in airstrikes.
Nettleton is believed to have died from complications with an illness in 2016, leaving the remaining children orphaned.
Only Zaynab, Hoda and Humzeh have survived after more than half of the Sharrouf family died in the war zone.
After the defeat of ISIS last year, the three surviving children were taken to the Kurdish-controlled camp in northern Syria and had begged to return home.
Sharrouf (pictured right), who was killed in 2017, had shared photos of him and his sons (pictured left) embracing their new lifestyle
Sharrouf’s (pictured left) wife Tara Nettleton (pictured right) brought her kids Zaynab, Hoda, 16, Humzeh, eight, Abdullah, 12 and Zarqawi, 11 to Syria in 2014
Zaynab (top left), Hoda (top right), and Humzeh (bottom, middle) are in the Al-Howl camp. Their two brothers (also pictured) are believed to have died in airstrikes