An Australian official has visited northern Syria to discuss what to do with Australian citizens who were members of the Islamic State group and their children.
The foreign affairs official, Jon Philip, says Australia favours an international response to resolve the cases of the 8,000 foreign women and children and a thousand suspected foreign fighters held in the region.
One of those foreign fighters is the New Zealander Mark Taylor, who joined Islamic State and is now detained in a Kurdish prison.
He's been told by the New Zealand government he will have to find his own way out of Syria.
And still missing in Syria is the New Zealand Red Cross nurse Louisa Akavi.
The ABC's Middle East correspondent Eric Tlozek says if countries want to repatriate their citizens they need the cooperation of Kurdish authorities.
