Sydney family fears missing teen fighting in Iraq

The family of a 17 year-old from southwestern Sydney has issued a plea for him to come home, fearing he's headed to Iraq to fight in the conflict there.

(File, AAP)

Abdullah Elmir's family thought he'd gone fishing.

Instead he texted his mother from Turkey, saying simply he'd 'gone'.

He was going 'across the border' which his family presumed meant into Iraq.

The family's lawyer says they believe the government knows where their son is and they just want him brought home. 

But if Abdullah Elmir has been fighting, it's unlikely he'll be allowed back into the country.

ASIO and the AFP have been questioning friends about where the money came from - believing Abdullah may have headed overseas with 16 year-old by the name of Feiz.

What authorities do know is that the boys travelled from Sydney over to Perth, and then on to Malaysia and Thailand and then finally to Turkey.

It's the third time teenagers are known to have left Australia without their parents' knowledge, heading for Iraq and Syria -up to 10 Australians are believed to have recently died in the two countries.

The latest, a 22 year-old Sydney man named Zakaria Raad, appeared in a recruitment video for jihadist group ISIS/ISIL,  the Islamic State of Iraq and Shams (the Levant).