Charges flagged as women and children from IS-linked families set to fly from Syria to Australia

Home affairs minister Tony Burke says government continues to refuse to help the group of 13 Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Some of the Australian women linked to Islamic State fighters may face arrest and possible criminal charges on their return from Syria this week, with the government and federal police promising a hardline response when the group touches down. The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed that the government was aware that four Australian women and nine of their children had begun the journey home, after more than a decade of planning by a joint Asio and Australian federal police counter-terrorism taskforce. Their arrivals, via flights from Doha, are expected on Thursday. The government insists it has provided no assistance to the group, who were among a larger group of 34 Australian women and their children who had been stuck in al-Roj camp in northern Syria for several years, since the territorial collapse of Islamic State. Australian citizens cannot legally be prevented from returning to the country unless a formal exclusion order is in place. Burke has issued a single or

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