Police authorities in Victoria, Australia have charged a Melbourne woman who allegedly travelled to Syria in 2013 or 2014 to join the Islamic State group (IS) with terror offences.
Rayann El Houli, 34, faced Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 28 May afternoon, charged with entering or remaining in a declared area and being a member of a terrorist organization.
She was remanded in custody and will appear again on 1 June.
Both offences carry a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said authorities had conducted searches at homes in the Melbourne suburbs of Broadmeadows and Fitzroy North on Thursday morning as part of ongoing investigations under Operation Kurrajong.
The ABC understands El Houli returned with another woman and four children from Lebanon in September 2025.
They returned independently of community efforts to repatriate Australian citizens from displaced persons camps in Syria.
AFP Deputy Commissioner National Security Hilda Sirec said in a briefing that Victoria Police were continuing to investigate the other woman.
Police said El Houli had been detained by Kurdish forces in March 2019 and held with her family in the al-Hawl displaced persons camp in northern Syria.
"In the past three weeks the New South Wales and Victoria joint terrorism teams have charged four women for terrorism-related offences or crimes against humanity or slavery offences," Deputy Commissioner Sirec said.
"This has been exceptional work by our investigators.
The ABC understands Rayann El Houli escaped the al-Hawl refugee camp with her sister and children, and paid a smuggler to get them into Lebanon.
The pair's mother then met them in Lebanon to care for the family, while the children underwent DNA testing to confirm their identity.
The family then successfully applied for Australian passports, enabling them to return to Melbourne.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett told a Senate Estimates hearing in Canberra that evidence critical to pressing charges against El Houli emerged only after other women returned from Syria this month.
"That domestic six-month investigation, plus the recent return of four women and their children from Syria three weeks ago, has collected new relevant evidence for Operation Howth," she said.