Two Australian women held in Syrian refugee camps since the fall of the Islamic State speak out for the first time about their lives and the challenges they face. Kirsty Rosse-Emile and Zeinab Ahmed detail the harsh conditions in the camps and the lack of support they receive, while also expressing their longing to return home.
Kirsty Rosse-Emile, a 30-year-old mother from Melbourne who enjoys hip-hop music, NBA basketball, fitness, and nutrition, resides on Australia Street in a camp in Syria. Dozens of other Australians share this unconventional home, far from their country of origin. Ms. Rosse-Emile has been detained in the camps for six years. She was captured by Kurdish forces after the Islamic State terror group was defeated in March 2019.
'You don't know my story, you don't know why I'm here, it's not my choice to be here,' she told the ABC. Ms. Rosse-Emile claims to have been advised by her lawyers not to disclose details about how she ended up living under the Islamic State in Syria.Both Ms. Rosse-Emile and her friend Zeinab Ahmed, a 29-year-old from Australia, who were interviewed by the ABC in the Al Roj camp, declined to discuss how and why they found themselves living under the Islamic State in Syria. 'Not because I don't want to answer, but we've been given advice by our lawyers that we only speak about conditions in the camp,' Ms. Ahmed said. 'I can't really talk about so much of it here, because it might make problems for me,' she added to the ABC. The two women are among dozens of Australians detained in the camps and prisons of northeastern Syria since the defeat of the so-called 'Caliphate' by a US-led coalition. The Australian government acknowledges not knowing the exact number of Australians held in northeastern Syria. However, Ms. Ahmed stated in the Al Roj camp that there were 14 Australian women, with 22 children. According to Save the Children, approximately 180 people were repatriated by eight countries, including Spain, France, and Canada, last year. Several other nations are still grappling with the situation regarding their citizens, many of whom have been in the camp for years. 'It's not a place for a child to be and every day, every day, especially for the past two months, every day it's just getting harder,' Ms. Ahmed said. 'We live closely, we have a strong connection because we all have the same motive. We all want to get home.' Middle East analyst Rodger Shanahan, who has dedicated years to researching Australians who joined the Islamic State, revealed that Ms. Ahmed's husband Dawod Elmir was killed in 2016 during the coalition campaign against IS in Syria. New anxieties have emerged concerning the fate of tens of thousands of detainees held in northeastern Syria following the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government in December. Just a fortnight earlier, smaller rebel attacks escalated into a large offensive on government-controlled areas in Aleppo province, in Syria's northwest. Syrian government forces retreated, and alongside their allies, they attempted to halt the rebels' rapid advance south towards Damascus through air strikes and shelling. The rebels, known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) or Syrian Rebels, were formerly the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda and known as the Nusra Front.From Bashar al-Assad's abandoned palace to the site of one of the country's most horrific massacres, the ABC spent three days in Syria, uncovering the fallen dictator's secrets. Now, Türkiye and Syrian rebel groups are attacking the Kurdish militias that guard the IS prisoners and detainees. US President Donald Trump's new administration has also slashed funding for food and services in the camps. 'That means we won't be getting the basics of like rice and lentils, oil and these types of things and cooking services like gas, kerosene … have been limited now and they stopped for a while,' Ms Rosse-Emile said. 'So we don't know if it's going to continue or not, after this time frame. So we won't be able to cook, we won't be able to warm ourselves in the winter, so it's difficult.'The women said Australian officials visited Al Roj in the second half of 2022 to conduct risk assessments, health checks, and DNA tests on the Australians. 'They took the first group and we were so happy that some of us were getting out, some of our kids will be saved,' Ms Ahmed said. 'Once they took them in there was backlash, there was backlash from when the announcement was made and then they never came back.' The Department of Home Affairs did not respond to the ABC's questions about why Australia has not brought back the remaining women or if any efforts were underway to repatriate them. 'These clashes are a significant distance from the internally displaced persons camps and detention centres,' the department said in a statement. The women have not been charged with any crimes in Syria but may face charges or be subject to control orders if they are brought back to Australia. Ms Rosse-Emile, whose social media account reportedly contained material supportive of the Islamic State in 2014, stated she poses no danger to anyone in Australia but is in constant danger in the camp.
AUSTRALIANWOMEN SYRIA ISIS DEPORTATION REFUGEE CAMPS HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS MIDDLE EAST
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