Alison Azer has come home empty-handed.

The Comox Valley mother of four has returned to Canada from the Kurdish region of Iraq, where she went searching for her missing children more than two months ago.

Sharvahn, 11, Rojevahn, 9, Dersim, 7, and Meitan, 3, were allegedly abducted and taken out-of-country by their father last August.

Azer travelled to Kurdistan after she found out their whereabouts, but her ex-husband Saren Azer, also known as Salahaddin Mahummudi-Azer, reportedly refused to release them.

“Tragically, complications arose from Saren’s unwillingness to comply with international law,” Azer wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday. “I tried everything I could think of, nothing worked. On the 150th day of my children’s abduction, I returned to Canada with the heaviest of hearts. I wouldn’t wish an hour of this nightmare on anyone.”

Azer extended gratitude to supporters in Canada and Kurdistan for sharing her story.

“I will never stop working to return my children to the home from which they were stolen,” she said.

She also passed on a message to her missing kids through a Twitter account used for search efforts.

“If anyone can get a message to my children, please tell them their mom loves them very very much,” said Azer.

A Canada-wide warrant was issued for Saren Azer’s arrest last year, and Interpol, which lists the children as missing on its website, has been communicating with Canadian Mounties regarding the case.

Saren Azer, a well-known Canadian doctor, was part of a delegation that met with then-defence minister Jason Kenney last February to push for more humanitarian efforts in Syria.

It is unclear what the next steps for Alison Azer will be.