EXCLUSIVE: Life after ISIS for Sharrouf kids: Mystery benefactors offer to help orphaned children of Australian terrorist with FREE houses, schooling and healthcare if they escape Syria

  • Mystery benefactors have come forward to help the orphaned Sharrouf kids
  • Zaynab, 17, Hoda, 16 and Humzeh, eight, are trapped in Syrian refugee camp 
  • 'Wealthy people' have blown the orphans away with generous offers of help 
  • 'We want to fund their progress ... getting back into a normal society'
  • 'If they come back (to Australia), people have offered free accommodation' 

Mystery benefactors have offered the children of terrorist Khaled Sharrouf free accommodation and money for healthcare and education once they escape their Syrian hellhole.  

'Wealthy people', who won't be publicly named, have stunned the orphans with generous offers of help, family lawyer Robert Van Aalst told Daily Mail Australia this week.

'I can't believe people who don't even know us want to help us,' one of the children wrote to their grandmother Karen Nettleton and supporter Mr Van Aalst. 

Orphans Zaynab, 17, Hoda, 16, and Humzeh Sharrouf, eight, have spent almost five years under the thumb of the Islamic State in Syria

Karen Nettleton was reunited with her grand and great-grandchildren in Syria last month

Karen Nettleton was reunited with her grand and great-grandchildren in Syria last month

Ms Nettleton made it to Syria last month after a five year journey to rescue them from ISIS

Ms Nettleton made it to Syria last month after a five year journey to rescue them from ISIS

Three of the children are seen at the beach before their parents dragged them to Syria

Three of the children are seen at the beach before their parents dragged them to Syria

Convicted criminal Khaled brought the family over to the Middle East in December 2013 after fleeing Australia on his brother's passport. 

He and his two eldest boys, Abdullah, 12, and Zarqawi, 11, died in a Coalition airstrike. The children's mother Tara Nettleton died following complications from appendicitis in 2015. 

The orphans were last month reunited with their determined grandmother Karen Nettleton, who found them at the Al Hawl refugee camp in north-east Syria. 

But their planned return home has been slow-walked by the Australian government, which has not signed off on a plan to get them out of the disease-riddled camp. 

Their desperation to escape Syria has only deepened with mother-of-two Zaynab seven months pregnant and surrounded by squalour.  

When and if the children return home, Mr Van Aalst said they would live with Ms Nettleton - who had been given an incredible level of support.  

'We've been very lucky,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 

'There are people, who I can't name, wealthy people, who have said to us, they'll provide funding for education and funding for medical help. 

'Once we have them out and back home, they've said ... we want to fund their progress from having been in a war zone for five years to getting back into a normal society.' 

There are fears Zaynab Sharrouf (left) will be forced to give birth to her third child at the camp

There are fears Zaynab Sharrouf (left) will be forced to give birth to her third child at the camp

The Al Hawl campsite in northeast Syria is lacking adequate medical care and ISIS enforcers won't allow women to take off their veils

The Al Hawl campsite in northeast Syria is lacking adequate medical care and ISIS enforcers won't allow women to take off their veils 

The squalid camp is home to 70,000 refugees and thousands of children

The squalid camp is home to 70,000 refugees and thousands of children 

He estimated Ms Nettleton and the children had 20 financial benefactors, and had received about 10 offers of expertise to help the children adjust to a normal life. 

The offers extend to free accommodation in Australia where they will hopefully recuperate after their traumatic Middle Eastern sojourn.  

We have been very lucky 
Lawyer Robert Van Aalst on help from several benefactors 

'Members of the Islamic community very close to Karen have offered a place (for them) to live, where they'll be out of the public sight and recover nicely,' Mr Van Aalst said. 

It's expected the children will have to spend some time in Turkey prior to returning to Australia, and accommodation has been offered to them there, too. 

'Turkish people have provided free accommodation,' Mr Van Aalst said.  'If they come back here (to Australia), we've got people who have offered free accommodation'.   

The children have also been offered spiritual guidance in 'the proper Koran' by members of the mainstream Islamic community in Australia. 

The kids have not shown any signs over the past five years that they have become radicalised, Mr Van Aalst said. 

WHY KAREN NETTLETON CHOSE TO FILM WITH THE ABC

Lawyer Robert Van Aalst said Karen Nettleton chose to work with the ABC's Four Corners program for a simple reason. 

'(It) was to show, not that she's working with government, but she's not selling herself to any private media organisation.' 

He said Ms Nettleton had worked her whole life and had 'never, ever' claimed social services.

They have not received a cent from the Federal government in their quest to rescue the orphans.   

 

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But the children have no doubt seen 'terrible things'. 

They confessed their final destination before the refugee camp was 'horrifying and terrible'. 

'Zeynab said "I'm scared, there are bullets and rockets" and the rest of it.   

'Don't forget these kids have been wounded themselves at one stage or another. 

'They're probably seen a lot of terrible things.'

The government has told Mr Van Aalst and Ms Nettleton they will provide counselling and support once the children to Turkey.

But there has been intense political debate over whether the children should return home in recent weeks.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 'there are a lot of hurdles to clear' as Australia's national security comes first.

But Mr Van Aalst said they were just children - and Australian citizens at that - who were seeking a better life.

'Let me say this to you: I'm in my 70s, and I was around when the Vietnam War happened.  

'Thousands and thousands of fighters and people who suffered in the Vietnam War came here.

'People have come from Somalia ... Nazis have come here from Germany after the Second World War.

'No one's kicked up a damn fuss about them. And guess what, good news - all became citizens and lived normal lives because they just wanted to get away from war.

Khaled Sharrouf fled Australia for Syria in 2014 and fought for the Islamic State. He was killed

Khaled Sharrouf fled Australia for Syria in 2014 and fought for the Islamic State. He was killed

This photo of one of the Sharrouf children holding a severed head became infamous. The boy died with his father

This photo of one of the Sharrouf children holding a severed head became infamous. The boy died with his father

'These kids are no different. In fact, because they're young, they're more flexible.'

He said former African child soldiers have gone on to great things in Australia, and 'these kids have never been soldiers, never fought'.

At the end of the day, the children just want to be with their grandmother, Mr Van Aalst said.  

The kids want to stay with Karen. They love their Nanna. 

'They're desperate to be with their Nanna.'  

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