The family of an Australian teenager thought to have been killed in a Daesh attack 18 months ago in Syria was on Wednesday celebrating news reports that he was alive.
According to the Guardian, relatives of Yousef Zahab were “overwhelmed with joy” after viewing a video appearing to show him looking physically fit and speaking to the camera.
Zahab was taken to Syria more than 10 years ago by his older brothers, who were Daesh militants and recruiters.
In January last year, he was presumed to have died during an airstrike by Daesh on Al-Sina’a prison where it was believed he had been held without charge since he was 14. The terror group had attacked the jail in a bid to break out detained militants.
However, a male of around 19 years old, and identified as Zahab, has now been seen talking to camera in a video clip reportedly shot inside the prison in Syria’s northeastern city of Al-Hasakah.
In the recording, the youth claimed the date was Sept. 15, 2022, and named himself and his parents. The footage shows him wearing a jersey and looking fit and well.
Zahab’s family watched the video after it was sent to authorities in Australia.
Several international charity groups are seeking to confirm the teen’s identity although the Syrian Democratic Forces have identified him as Zahab.
His family members were reported as saying they had received information from several sources that, “our beloved Yousef is indeed alive. We are simply overwhelmed with joy by this news and are so thankful to now have hope again that we will soon be reunited with him.
“Unfortunately, this news follows 12 excruciating months in which numerous sources had indicated that Yousef had died.”
However, relatives continue to fear for his safety. “Yousef was just a young boy when he was taken to Syria. We can only begin to imagine the horrors that he has suffered through since then.”
Media reports said his mother and sister, and his sister’s young children, remain held in a detention camp in northeast Syria, while his brothers were killed in airstrikes.
The family added: “The Australian government had received evidence Yousef Zahab was alive.” The hope is that officials can arrange for his release and return to Australia.
“We also hope that the Australian government will bring the other Australian children home from northeast Syria, especially as some of them are at risk of being separated from their mothers and placed in similar conditions to Yousef.
“The only way to truly protect all of these children is to bring them and their mothers home to Australia immediately, as the government has previously committed to doing so,” the family said.
In two missions to bring home Australians held in Syria, the Australian government repatriated eight orphaned children in 2019, and four women and 13 children in October 2022 to New South Wales from the camps.
It has also reportedly committed to bringing home any remaining detainees it can safely extract but has given no timescale.