Obama 'deeply concerned' by terrorism threat from Australian jihadists in Syria

Supporting moderates is vital to countering gains made by extremists, says US president.

The US president, Barack Obama, has said he “deeply concerned” about the terrorism threat posed by Australian jihadists fighting in Syria on their return to Australia.

Obama made his comments as the militant group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (Isis), extended its path of bloodshed in Iraq after crossing the border from war-torn Syria.

Using online recruitment videos, Isis is enticing Australians and Muslims in other parts of the world to join their fight in Syria and Iraq.

The US is deploying up to 300 military advisers to asses the situation in Iraq and has been supporting moderate groups opposing Isis and the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.

“There is no doubt the problem in Syria is one that we have been paying a lot of attention to over the last couple of years, as you see jihadists coming in from Europe and as far as Australia to get trained and then going back into their home countries,” Obama said in an interview on CNN.

“This is something we have been deeply concerned about. Part of the reason we have been supporting a moderate opposition effort in Syria is to make sure there are forces countering some of the gains some of these extremist organisations have made inside of Syria,” the president said.

There have been reports of as many as 300 Australians having entered Syria to fight. On Friday, the prime minister, Tony Abbott, warned that jihadists who were “trained killers” and who “hate our way of life” must be stopped from re-entering the country.

In his strongest words yet about Australians fighting in Iraq and Syria, Abbott said the government had “absolute determination” to prevent “returning jihadis”.

“The important thing is to ensure that, as far as is humanly possible, they don’t come back into our country,” he said on Macquarie Radio. “And if they do come back into our country, they are taken into detention.”