Persecuted Syrians welcomed as our jets poised to strike IS at its heart AUSTRALIA will welcome the first of 12,000 more refugees by Christmas, and is set to bomb Syria within a week.
More than four million people have already fled Syria, which is being torn apart by a civil war and the murderous spread of Islamic State, also called Daesh.
"We are all in the grip of grief," Prime Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday. "This is a region which is riven with conflict, which is soaked in blood, so you can fully understand why so many people, despite ancient connections with this land, can never go back - and it's those that can never really go back that we're focused on." As part of the US-led coalition, the RAAF is already carrying out air strikes on Iraq and that action will now extend across the border into Syria.
The Federal Government announced yesterday it will give 12,000 women, children and families who have fled Syria and Iraq permanent Australian visas as soon as all the right checks have been done. 
The move will cost $700 million over four years.
Although there is no set time frame for bringing people over, a senior Government official told The Advertiser that they should start arriving by Christmas.
About 200,000 of those who have fled have been heading to Europe. The rest are in camps in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.
The Government has also announced an extra $44 million for emergency supplies for the camps.
Mr Abbott said the Government wanted to help "persecuted minorities" while also tackling the root cause of their trauma.
"We have to act with our heads as well as with our hearts," he said. "There can be no stability and no end to the persecution and suffering in the Middle East until the Daesh death cult is degraded and ultimately destroyed." Mr Abbott emphasised the armed forces would target IS under a UN law that allows for "collective self-defence", but would not target the "evil" Assad regime, although he expressed hope that one day the Middle East would have "governments that do not commit genocide against their own people nor permit terrorism against ours".
He did not rule out adding ground troops in the future.
Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin said Classic Hornet or Super Hornet planes could be dropping bombs within a week. "For all intents and purposes, they just take a 10-degree left turn when they go on task (in Iraq) and end up over Syria," he said.
Foreign fighters, including Australians fighting with IS, will be potential targets.
On the refugee intake, senior Government officials told The Advertiser: THOROUGH health, character and security checks would be carried out and all refugees would be interviewed by an Australian immigration official.
ALL refugees would have to sign an Australian values statement committing to democracy, equality, freedom and obeying the law.
ENGLISH language was not necessary, although the statement says it is a "unifying element".
The one-off intake was decided after discussions held by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton in Europe. It is on top of the current 13,750 refugee intake, which in turn is set to increase to 18,750 over the next three years.
Earlier in the day, South Australian Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi, pre-empting the Government's announcement, said the most vulnerable people in the Middle East were Christians.
However, Mr Abbott mentioned both Muslim and non-Muslim minorities. "Our focus is on the persecuted minorities who have been displaced and are very unlikely ever to be able to go back to their original homes," he said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said the $44 million would support 240,000 refugees living in camps.
"The advice that we have received is that with the coming winter there are urgent needs to provide basic equipment and support - shelter kits, clean, safe drinking water, food, support for women and girls," she said. "This way we can relieve some of the burden that the neighbouring countries are bearing as a result of the conflict within Syria and within Iraq." Federal Labor will support the air strikes and welcomed the refugee announcement.
"Our compassion should pay no heed to the colour of a person's skin or the god they pray to," Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said.
State Liberal Opposition Leader Steven Marshall welcomed the resettlement of the refugees, as did Premier Jay Weatherill, who said "floods" of people had offered their homes and resources.
His offer of resettling 800 or 900 people still stood, he said, as did his suggestion of using the former Inverbrackie detention centre. Mr Weatherill said the state would also give up to $4 million if all states matched the Federal Government's $44 million commitment.
In other developments, young Australians Osman Haouchar and Oliver Bridgeman, working in Syrian refugee camps, have said they will now try to come home, while in Europe, extreme-Right MPs want the Abbott Government's policy of boat turnbacks. Heckling European Commissioner Jean-Claude Junker, one of them, Nigel Farage, said that "we must be mad, we must stop the boats coming as the Australians did".
OUR PAST RESPONSES 1933-1939 More than 7000 Jews fleeing Nazi Germany were resettled. 1947 844 Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians arrive as refugees fleeing Europe. 1948-1955 171,000 migrants fleeing Europe, from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Ukraine and Hungary, resettled.
1975 2500 East Timorese taken in during East Timor crisis.
1975-1985 70,000 Asian refugees, mostly Vietnamese, resettled following the Vietnam War.
1989 42,000 Chinese students granted refugee status following Tiananmen Square massacre.
1999 4000 Kosovars given temporary refugee status for three months and then returned home.
SOURCE: Refugee Council of Australia
CIVIL WAR IN THE MID-EAST THE 2011 "Arab Spring", which was supposed to usher in a new era of democracy and freedom in the Middle East, sparked protests in Syria which quickly escalated into a civil war â-  A crackdown on protesters by Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad led to citizens taking up arms.
â-  More than 220,000 people have been killed and up to 11 million displaced. â-  Rebel forces which took up arms against the Assad regime include the group now known as Daesh or Islamic State, which occupied territory in Syria and Iraq.
â-  Assad came to power in 2000 following the death of his father, the former president Hafez al-Assad.
â-  Syrian refugees have spilled over the country's borders into countries including Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey and many have made perilous journeys to Europe.
â-  The US has launched an air campaign against IS targets in Syria. The UK has used drones to attack British Jihadis in Syria.
â-  The civil war has torn apart a once mighty nation, that 2000 years ago controlled much of Turkey, Egypt and the Middle East.
AUSSIE AIR STRIKES Q: When will Royal Australian Air Force operations begin over Syria and what will they target?
A: Operations could begin within a week, using laser-guided and "dumb" bombs to attack Islamic State, or Daesh, forces threatening Iraqi territory. The aircraft will be restricted to operations around IS strongholds such as Al Hasakah and Al Mar'a, close to the border with Iraq.
Q: Why is Australia extending its air operations from Iraq into Syria? A: IS occupies territory on both sides of the border between Iraq and Syria and, left unchecked, would continue to expand. Australian air strike operations have conducted 770 missions in Iraq.
Q: What aircraft will be involved?
A: Australia's Air Task Group consists of six F/A-18 Hornet aircraft, backed up by a KC-30A multi-role tanker transport and an E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft.
Q: What happens if an RAAF plane is shot down over Syria?
A: Coalition rapid-reaction special-forces search and rescue teams are constantly on standby to extract the crew of downed aircraft from behind enemy lines.
Q: Could Australians fighting with Islamic State be the target of air strikes by Australian aircraft?
A: Prime Minister Tony Abbott has warned that anybody fighting with the terrorist group could be the target of coalition military operations.
Q: Could civilians be killed in the air strikes? A: The RAAF will try not to harm civilians but this cannot always be avoided.