7 OCT 2026Operation Loonbeek – Bushfire Terror Attempts
7 OCT 2026 Fall of Kabul and Kabul airport bombing
On 15 April 2021, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced that the last Australian troops would leave Afghanistan by September 2021, ending Australia's contribution to the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission. Their release said more than 39,000 ADF personnel had deployed on Operations SLIPPER and HIGHROAD, and that 41 Australian personnel had died serving in Afghanistan since 2001. On 15 August 2021, Taliban fighters entered Kabul and took the presidential palace after President Ashraf Ghani left the country (AP).
DFAT says Australia evacuated around 4,100 people on 32 flights from Kabul between 18 and 26 August 2021. It describes the operation as "one of the largest humanitarian airlift operations in our history". On 27 August, Morrison said more than 3,200 of those evacuated were Australians and Afghan visa holders for Australia, and more than 800 were from Coalition partners. He said more than 2,500 people were at Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE and 783 were already in Australia. Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said 3,000 humanitarian places had been allocated for people from Afghanistan.
On 26 August 2021, a suicide bomber attacked Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport. The US military's later investigation found that the single device killed at least 170 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members (AP, February 2022). Islamic State claimed the attack. Morrison said the dead Americans fell at "a gate at which Australian Defence Force personnel stood only hours before". He said Australia's last personnel had left "not that long before" the attack. Defence Minister Peter Dutton said: "I can confirm that not too long before the attack Australian troops and the rest of our personnel were wheels up and out of Kabul" (ABC).
Morrison said: "Australia's operations now for the evacuation have been completed." Payne said Australians and visa holders still in Afghanistan should not travel to the airport, and that the government could not yet confirm whether any Australians were affected by the bombing. Morrison said the opportunities for those left behind to get out would be "very restricted".
More sources:
Hezbollah listed in full as a terrorist organisation
On 24 November 2021 Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews announced that the Australian Government would list the entirety of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese Shia political party and militant group, as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code. The ABC reported: "Until now Australia has only listed the group's External Security Organisation (ESO) on the terrorist list, exempting its military and political wings." The ESO had been listed since 2003. The new listing also covers Hezbollah's political wing, which holds seats in Lebanon's government.
Andrews said: "The Government has zero tolerance for violence, and there is no cause – religious or ideological – that can justify killing innocent people." The same announcement listed the neo-Nazi group The Base.
Under the Criminal Code, terrorist organisation offences, including membership, recruitment, training and funding, carry penalties of up to 25 years' imprisonment.
What Parliament heard
The listing followed a 2021 review by Parliament's Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security of the re-listing of Hezbollah's External Security Organisation. The Committee's report records that "all non-government submitters to the review recommended that the re-listing of the ESO not be disallowed but also that the listing be expanded to the whole organisation of Hizballah". Those submitters were the Zionist Federation of Australia, the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Dr Matthew Levitt and Emanuele Ottolenghi. No submission opposed it.
At the public hearing the Department of Home Affairs maintained that the ESO was "a separate and discrete organisation within Hizballah". ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said broadening the listing would have no impact on ASIO's operations. AFP Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said the narrower listing "does make it more difficult" to prosecute, because prosecutors had to prove support for the ESO specifically.
The Committee was told of evidence of Hezbollah-linked activity involving Australia, including that in September 2020 a Bulgarian court sentenced Meliad Farah, a dual Australian-Lebanese citizen, in absentia to life in prison for his role in the 2012 bombing of a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria. The Department of Home Affairs said its engagement with Australian-Lebanese communities had "not included a discussion of the implications" of the listing.
The Committee recommended the Government "give consideration to extending the listing of Hizballah's ESO as a terrorist organisation to the entirety of Hizballah", noting the positions of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the United Arab Emirates. In November 2021 the Government replied: "The Government accepts this recommendation."
More sources:
- Minister for Home Affairs - Hizballah and The Base listed as terrorist organisations
- aljazeera.com - Australia designates Hezbollah a 'terrorist organisation' (24 Nov 2021)
- aph.gov.au - Committee report: Re-listing of Hizballah's External Security Organisation (2021)
- aph.gov.au - Submissions to the Hizballah review
- aph.gov.au - Australian Government response (November 2021)
Introduction
In 2021, Australia's Joint Counter Terrorism Teams (JCTT), made up of the AFP, state police and ASIO, pursued several high-profile matters. Three are set out here: an alleged Islamic State-linked bushfire plot on Melbourne's outskirts; alleged help for Australian foreign fighters to reach Syria from south-east Queensland; and an undercover operation against an autistic teenager that a Children's Court later permanently stayed.
Operation Loonbeek (Victoria, March 2021)
Operation Loonbeek followed attempts in early 2021 to light fires in heavily treed areas around Humevale, using petrol and fire starters, filmed with Islamic State propaganda. The Victorian JCTT charged a man on 17 March 2021. Court and news coverage name him Aran Sherani. His brother Ari Sherani was also charged. A 16-year-old arrested with them was released without charge and is not named here.
Logan and Melbourne arrests (March 2021)
On 25 March 2021, the Queensland and Victorian JCTTs arrested Gabriel Crazzi, then 34, of Chambers Flat in Logan, and Ahmed Talib, then 31, of Doncaster East in Melbourne.
The AFP alleged that they held senior roles in a south-east Queensland syndicate that helped Australian foreign terrorist fighters travel to Syria in 2012–2013, including networks used to join organisations such as Jabhat al-Nusra, and that this facilitation was linked to Ahmed Succarieh's travel to Syria in 2013.
Operation Bourglinster (Melbourne, October 2021)
Operation Bourglinster began on 23 July 2021 against a child the Children's Court called Carrick (a pseudonym). He was 13 and autistic, and his parents had sought police help over his fixation with Islamic State. After he turned 14, charges of membership of Islamic State and advocating terrorism were laid on 6 October 2021. On 24 October 2023 Magistrate Fleming permanently stayed the proceedings.
Government Response
Loonbeek: the sentence
According to the AFP, the man pleaded guilty to membership of a terrorist organisation (Criminal Code s 102.3(1)). On 8 November 2023 a jury found him guilty of acts in preparation for a terrorist act (s 101.6(1)). On 10 October 2024 the Supreme Court of Victoria sentenced him to eight years' imprisonment with a six-year non-parole period.
Justice Mandy Fox spoke of his embrace of Islamic State and his remaining risk of radicalisation. With time served, he could be released as early as 2027. The jury found Aran not guilty of two attempt counts. Ari was acquitted of attempting a terrorist act over Humevale.
Crazzi and Talib
The AFP alleged that Crazzi had entered Syria and fought alongside terrorist organisations. He faced foreign-incursion and preparation charges, with reported maximum penalties of 20 and 10 years per count. Talib faced one preparation count, with a reported maximum of 10 years, and was said to be sanctioned by the US Treasury.
Brisbane Magistrates Court refused Crazzi bail on 26 March 2021. Police seized about $80,000 in cash in Queensland and high-value gemstones in Victoria. On 21 February 2022 the Queensland Supreme Court granted Crazzi bail under strict conditions. Talib was refused bail as a flight risk.
Bourglinster
Magistrate Fleming found that covert online engagement "fed his fixation" and "doomed" his rehabilitation, and she permanently stayed the proceedings. She found that the conduct of the JCTT and AFP fell "so profoundly short of the minimum standards expected of law enforcement" that refusing the stay would condone further such conduct. The AFP acknowledged the October 2023 decision and said it reviews such outcomes.
Summary
Across 2021, Australian counter-terrorism agencies disrupted alleged plots and networks. In one case, a Children's Court condemned how an undercover investigation had treated a vulnerable child.
In Operation Loonbeek, bushfire attempts filmed with Islamic State messaging led to an eight-year sentence, with six years non-parole, for Aran Sherani, for membership and preparatory terrorism offences. The attempt counts failed, and his brother was acquitted.
The March 2021 Logan and Melbourne arrests targeted men the police alleged were senior figures in a south-east Queensland foreign-fighter facilitation network, linked in police allegations to Jabhat al-Nusra and to Succarieh's travel to Syria. Bail decisions are on the record up to 2022.
Operation Bourglinster produced terrorism charges against an autistic teenager identified only by a court pseudonym. The proceedings were permanently stayed after the court found that covert online engagement had fed the child's fixation and undermined his rehabilitation.
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