Roundup: Five Australian children stranded in Syria after mother's death

Five Australian children have been left stranded in Syria after their mother, the wife of a slain Islamic State (IS) fighter, died from complications following surgery, according to reports.

On Thursday, it was revealed that Tara Nettleton, who travelled to Syria with husband Khaled Sharrouf and their five children in 2014, died in September last year from complications stemming from appendicitis.

The mother's death leaves her children (aged 14, 13, 11, 10, 5) stranded in the war-ravaged country without a legal guardian or any means to return to Australia, after their father was also killed in a drone strike in Iraq in June last year.

"This has been the worst time of my life," Karen Nettleton, the children's grandmother, told The Australian newspaper on Thursday.

"I am devastated because I wasn't able to be at my daughter's side and that I'm not able to be there for my grandkids and great-grandchild, who are suffering traumatic events outside their control."

The Sharrouf family were ridiculed amongst the western media in 2014, when Khaled Sharrouf took a photo of his then seven-year-old son holding the severed head of a soldier in the Syrian city of Raqqa and posted it to social media.

Australia's Attorney-General George Brandis would not confirm Tara Nettleton's death on Thursday, but criticized the parents' decision to risk the lives of their children for the sake of joining the front-line of a terror movement.

"All Australians would be as appalled and disturbed as I am with parents who would willingly take up arms on behalf of ISIL, and expose their children to the risk of being injured, killed, or left to fend for themselves in areas controlled by these barbaric terrorists," he told The Australian newspaper on Thursday.

Speaking through the aid of her lawyer Charles Waterstreet, Nettleton also told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that she feared for her grandchildren's safety.

"On my own behalf and on her behalf, I request the Australian government do everything that they possibly can to get those children away from danger and to get them out and bring them home," Waterstreet told the ABC on Thursday.

Karen Nettleton said she was particularly concerned about the wellbeing of her 14-year-old granddaughter, who after marrying another Australian IS fighter abroad, Mohamed Elomar, gave birth to a child last year. The eldest child's husband was killed in the same counter-terrorism airstrike that claimed her father.

"Tara was a very young girl (15 years old) when she married, and now grandchildren and a young baby are left without anyone to look after them," Waterstreet said.

Karen Nettleton urged the government to show mercy and compassion toward the children and not strip them of their citizenship for being dragged to Syria to join the war effort.

"Anything can happen to these kids, because it's lawless, and it's dangerous and they're Australian citizens," Waterstreet said.

However, last year Peter Dutton, then immigration minister, noted that any government-sponsored evacuation of Australian citizens from the area would be difficult, with Australia possessing no ground troops or diplomatic influence in the region. Endit