BEIRUT: A teenager and a young woman have become the first Australians to travel alone to Syria and offer themselves as potential brides to jihadis, the Australia’s Daily Telegraph reported Sunday. It said Hodan, 18, and Hafsa, 20, flew out of Sydney sometime in the past couple of weeks, likely lying to their families about the reasons behind their trip. Hodan and Hafsa are part of a growing number of young Australian men and women joining jihadis in Syria and Iraq, which Australian officials say is a deeply disturbing development. The newspaper said that while there have been “numerous cases” of women joining husbands or boyfriends in Syria, it was the first case of young women traveling independently to the war zone. It is now a criminal offense to travel to the region without valid motives, and the two women could face 10 years’ imprisonment upon their return.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on December 15, 2014, on page 5.
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