Grandfather of child rescued from Syria pleads for 'stability, love, care'

John has been caring for his granddaughter Jasmine since she was rescued from a Syrian orphanage. (ABC News: Paul Sellenger) Link copiedShareShare articleJasmine* was five years old and so traumatised that when she woke up trying to scream, she couldn't make a sound. She told her grandparents of nightmares about black dogs trying to eat her. Jasmine was safe in Australia, a long way from Syria, where she was born, and from the conflict that had claimed the lives of her parents and siblings. But the comfort of grandparents did little to stop the daily hauntings, and she kept the vivid memories of watching starving dogs eat dead bodies. "She'd just be frozen," her grandfather, John*, told the ABC. John and his wife have taken care of Jasmine for three years since she was rescued from an orphanage in Syria's north in 2023. It's a remarkable survival story that almost never happened — a miracle, according to John. "We spent a year and a half literally just nurturing her … making her feel safe, making her feel comfortable," he said. Jasmine's case has not previously been reported by the media and is not related to the recent returns of so-called "ISIS brides" and their children to Australia. But the attention on these groups has prompted John to share his family's story. In 2019, John's daughter and her two remaining children, including Jasmine, were fighting for survival at a makeshift camp on the outskirts of Baghuz in Syria's east. (ABC News: Paul Sellenger) Amid public discussion about the potential risk returnees might pose, John said he wanted to appeal to politicians and the public to have compassion for the children. "The trauma that they would be in is incredible," he said. While he believes anyone alleged to have broken the law should face the justice system, he argues the tough tone from politicians and in the media had stoked "fear and division". "They're using human suffering for political gain," he said. "The Australian government has been spineless in defending children. John said his daughter, Jasmine's mother, travelled to Syria more than a decade ago with her two older children, following the death of her Australian husband in Syria. The husband had reported he was in Syria doing humanitarian work in the early stages of a brutal civil war that saw the emergence of militant factions, including the Islamic State group. But John admits he does not know much about his son-in-law's movements. About 230 Australian men and women have travelled to Syria and Iraq to support or fight with extremist groups since 2012, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Authorities have been preparing for their return for years, with the federal government acutely aware of its limitations in preventing Australian citizens from returning home. John says he had no indication his son-in-law could be among this number before he died. When John's daughter left Australia, he said she did so without telling him. It was a decision that left him gravely upset and worried, and one he still tries to comprehend today. "She didn't believe it. She wanted to go see where [her husband] was buried. I can't begin to measure her hurt after losing a husband." In the years she was in Syria, John said he pleaded for his daughter to come home, but he said the war soon made leaving impossible. His daughter remarried in Syria and had two more children, including Jasmine. Updates from John's daughter were patchy, and months would often pass without any word as the family moved around amid the chaos and carnage of the Syrian war. But as the years passed, John's daughter provided him with news of tragedy after tragedy. In the days before her birth in 2016, Jasmine's father disappeared after leaving to go to a neighbouring town, John said. He was later told his grandson died of natural causes and one granddaughter was killed during an air strike. In 2019, John's daughter and her two remaining children, including Jasmine, were fighting for survival at a makeshift camp on the outskirts of Baghuz in Syria's east — one of the last strongholds of Islamic State. The daughter reported the group of civilians she was among was being bombarded, John said. "The women are out there just trying to survive," he said. "We know she tried to escape on three occasions. On one occasion she was almost abducted by ISIS." Displaced Syrian children at a refugee camp near the Syrian-Turkish border in 2018. (Reuters: Osman Orsal, file) Months later, John received a message from Syria that his daughter and her remaining children had been killed. Despite the news coming from an anonymous source, he had no reason to doubt it was true. For more than two years, John grieved the loss of his daughter and grandchildren. Then, in 2022, he got the remarkable news that one granddaughter, Jasmine, was still alive. John was told an unrelated woman had taken Jasmine after her mother and sister were killed and slowly made her w

Grandfather of child rescued from Syria pleads for 'stability, love, care'

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