The ABC understands Rayann El Houli returned independently of community efforts to repatriate Australian citizens from Syria. (Supplied: Victoria Police)
Rayann El Houli will remain in custody after she was charged on Thursday with being a member of a terrorist organisation.
Police allege she travelled to Syria between 2013 and 2014 before returning to Australia in September last year.
In the past three weeks, four women have been charged with terrorism, crimes against humanity or slavery offences in relation to their time in Syria.
Police in Victoria 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 Thursday afternoon, charged with entering or remaining in a declared area and being a member of a terrorist organisation.
She was remanded in custody and will appear again on Monday.
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 Ms 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.
A suspected stolen motor vehicle, electronic devices, documents and photographs were seized. (ABC News: Christopher Gillette)
Police said Ms 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.
"Investigations are continuing in all recent adult female returnees who spent time in internally displaced persons camps in Syria."
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 on Thursday afternoon that evidence critical to pressing charges against Ms 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.
A group of women returned to Melbourne on a Qatar Airways flight on Tuesday. (ABC News)
Operation Kurrajong is a joint operation of the AFP, domestic spy agency ASIO, and state and territory police through the Joint Counter Terrorism Teams focused on investigating individuals alleged to have travelled to Syria during the IS caliphate.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Libby Murphy said community safety remained the greatest priority.
A suspected stolen motor vehicle, electronic devices, documents and photographs were seized from the homes in Melbourne's north, police said.
"We have a responsibility to all Victorians to keep them safe which includes holding anyone who has committed serious offences to account," Deputy Commissioner Murphy said.
"We want to reassure the community that we are doing everything we can to ensure there is no risk to the Victorian community from those returning from conflict areas."
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"All of the women that have returned recently are under investigation," the AFP deputy commissioner confirms.
Ms Sirec says she is unable to share details about the cases, or the location of the women.
But she adds the AFP is aware of where these women are across the country.
Two separate groups of women, referred to by media as "ISIS brides", have returned to Sydney and Melbourne this month along with their children.
"I want to underscore that a period without charges being laid is not an indicator that investigations have ceased," Deputy Commissioner Sirec said.
"I won't outline our operational strategies or who could face charges in the future."
Three of the returnees who arrived in early May have been charged with various offences.
Kawsar Ahmad and her daughter Zeinab Ahmad were charged upon arriving in Melbourne with crimes against humanity relating to allegations they kept a slave in Syria.
A third woman was not charged with any offences.
A woman who flew into Sydney, Janai Safar, was charged with travelling to a declared terrorist area and being a member of a terrorist organisation.
On Tuesday, 19 women and children linked to the Islamic State group arrived in Melbourne and Sydney.
Both groups of women were at the notorious al-Roj camp in northern Syria. (Supplied: Save the Children )
Kirsty Rosse-Emile and Kawsar Kanj and seven of their children, including an individual who recently turned 18, flew into Melbourne.
Four women, including Aminah Zahab, her daughter Sumaya Zahab, her niece Nesrine Zahab, and Hyam Raad, along with six children, landed in Sydney.
The AFP said their belongings were searched and their devices downloaded, but no-one was arrested.
Both groups of women and children had spent years in the notorious al-Roj camp in northern Syria.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett said earlier this month that Australians should know "law enforcement and security agencies are doing everything they can to keep them safe, and that individuals are held to account for their actions".