Following their relief from Tobruk by units of the British 70th Division, the 2/17th Battalion was evacuated by the sea to Alexandria, and then moved to Palestine, arriving there in mid-October, establishing a camp at Julis. Shortly afterwards, a company was detached from the battalion to undertake guard duties in Broumane, in Syria, and in January 1942 the rest of the battalion followed. There, they were tasked with undertaking garrison duties as part of the occupation force that had been established there after the Syria–Lebanon campaign, to defend against a possible German attack on the Allied flank through the Caucasus. Relieving the &lt;a href="2/12th%20Battalion%20%28Australia%29"&gt;2/12th Battalion&lt;/a&gt;, the battalion established itself around Afrine, north of Aleppo; in March, after the 2nd New Zealand Division arrived, the battalion moved to Latakia.