Photos have emerged online purporting to show the mother of an Australian man killed in Syria meeting with Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
Reece Harding, a 23-year-old man from Queensland's Gold Coast, travelled to the Kurdish-held region of northern Syria to fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State.
He was killed in June this year.
Now, photos on Twitter show a woman identified as his mother, Michelle Harding, shaking the hand of a uniformed fighter in the region while holding a framed photo of Mr Harding.
Photos posted on the Lions of Rojava Facebook page show what appears to be the same woman alongside two other people not dressed in uniform.
They appear to be inspecting rows of uniformed men and women.
A spokesman for the Australian-Kurdish Association said he had been told Michelle Harding planned to travel to Rojava.
Mahmut Kahraman said he had spoken with Ms Harding's husband and he confirmed she had travelled there with a television news crew from Australia.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told SBS people travelling to the region would be without ready access to consular assistance.
“We strongly advise people not to travel to Syria and Iraq. It is extremely volatile and dangerous. DFAT’s Travel Advisory for Syria and Iraq is “Do Not Travel”. Australian Government consular assistance is no longer available within Syria and the Government’s ability to provide consular assistance in Iraq is extremely limited," they said.
"It is an offence for a person to enter, or remain in, al-Raqqa province in Syria and Mosul district in the Ninewa province in Iraq without a legitimate purpose. It is not an offence to travel to other parts of Syria or Iraq, even if it is strongly discouraged.”
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