Planes carrying IS-linked family members land in Australia, with police expected to make arrests

Thirteen women and children have landed in Australia after being detained for more than seven years in Syrian detention camps following the fall of Islamic State . Some of the women may face arrest and possible criminal charges – including terrorism and slavery related offences – with the Australian fafterederal police (AFP) expected to provide an update later on Thursday. A plane believed to be carrying Kawsar Abbas, her eldest daughters Zahra and Zeinab, and eight children and grandchildren, landed in Melbourne at about 5.30pm Thursday, after a journey that began in Damascus on Wednesday. A second flight, believed to be carrying Janai Safar and her child, has also landed in Sydney . Guardian Australia has attempted to contact family members and legal representatives for all four women. The return to Australia caps a remarkable saga for the women, all of whom spent more than a decade in the Middle East, firstly under Islamic State rule, and then in squalid detention camps after escaping the violent end of the so-called caliphate. But the possibility of criminal charges, and an increasingly fraught political debate about whether they pose a threat, means their resettlement will not be straightforward. …