Two Australian women and four children escape Syrian detention camp and flee to Victoria

Two Australian women and four children have escaped a Syrian detention camp and made their own way home to Victoria , as pressure mounts on the Australian government to repatriate its citizens.

The two women and four children – the Guardian is not revealing their names or ages – escaped from the notorious Al-Hol detention camp in north-east Syria , travelling more than 500km to cross the Lebanese border, where they were able to obtain Australian documents in Beirut.

They underwent identity and security screenings in Beirut, the Guardian understands, before travelling to Australia by a commercial flight last week.

There are about 40 Australians – most of them children – held in detention camps in north Syria. They are the wives, widows and children of slain or jailed Islamic State