Yazidi women rescued eight years after ISIS kidnapping

Six women from the Yazidi minority in Iraq were recently rescued with the assistance of the authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and activist Nadia Murad.

The report says that the women were kidnapped by ISIS in 2014. They were trafficked from Iraq to Syria and were rescued on Saturday. ISIS took over Mosul in Iraq nine years ago in June 2014.

The Yazidi community lived in numerous villages near Mount Sinjar. ISIS attacked the area in August 2014 and rounded up Yazidis that were unable to flee. While hundreds of thousands of the minority community fled to Sinjar mountain or to Syria, where they were assisted by the Syrian YPG, others were held by ISIS.

Yazidi suffering at the hands of ISIS

ISIS divided women and children from the men and elderly women and then systematically murdered most of the men and elderly women, killing thousands. Those who were murdered were buried in dozens of mass graves in scenes similar to how the Nazis murdered Jews in the 1940s.

The women and children were sold into slavery and subjected to abuses. At the time, ISIS enjoyed support in the West from volunteers and had impunity on social media to brag about its crimes, including the massacre of Shi’ites at Camp Speicher and the genocide of Yazidis. However, the crimes eventually led to the intervention of the US-led anti-ISIS Coalition which defeated ISIS in 2019 with the leadership of the Iraqi army, Kurdish Peshmerga and the SDF in Syria. While 3,500 Yazidis have been saved and returned to their families, it is believed that 2,700 people are still missing.

According to a statement by Murad and her organization Nadia’s Initiative, the women who were rescued will be reunited with their families and have been flown to Erbil.

“Rescuing trafficked and enslaved Yazidi women and children is an on-going humanitarian campaign – and the reunification of these six women with their families, after nearly nine years, gives us hope that more can be found.” The US Consulate tweeted “Congratulations to Nadia Murad and [the] President of the Kurdistan Region – Iraq Nechirvan Barzani’s Office for Rescuing Kidnapped Yezidis: for their successful efforts to rescue six Yazidi women from the hands of ISIS and BringThemHome.”

While many Yazidis have been saved, the community continues to live in displaced persons camps and does not receive much international assistance. In addition, many of the survivors of genocide and kidnapping do not receive enough international support for their trauma.

While many Yazidis have been saved, the community continues to live in displaced persons camps and does not receive much international assistance. In addition, many of the survivors of genocide and kidnapping do not receive enough international support for their trauma.

When Yazidis returned home to Sinjar, they found destroyed villages and desolate landscapes that receive very little investment from the authorities. They still suffer from militia checkpoints and neglected security in their areas, as well as a lack of access to proper health care and educational facilities. Further, Turkey claims to be “fighting terror” in Sinjar and has carried out drone strikes and extrajudicial assassinations that have killed Yazidis in recent years.

Source » jpost