Timour Azhari
Updated Thu, October 3, 2024
Palestinians hold Eid al-Fitr prayers by the ruins of al-Farouk mosque in Rafah
By Timour Azhari
BEIRUT (Reuters) -A 21-year-old woman kidnapped by Islamic State militants in Iraq more than a decade ago was freed from Gaza this week in an operation led by the United States, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
The operation also involved Israel, Jordan and Iraq, according to officials.
The woman is a member of the ancient Yazidi religious minority mostly found in Iraq and Syria which saw more than 5,000 members killed and thousands more kidnapped in a 2014 campaign that the U.N. has said constituted genocide.
She was freed after more than four months of efforts that involved several attempts that failed due to the difficult security situation resulting from Israel's military offensive in Gaza, Silwan Sinjaree, chief of staff of Iraq's foreign minister, told Reuters.
She has been identified as Fawzia Sido. Reuters could not reach the woman directly for comment.
Iraqi officials had been in contact with the woman for months and passed on her informaiton to U.S. officials, who arranged for her exit from Gaza with the help of Israel, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Officials did not provide details of how exactly she was eventually freed, and Jordanian and U.S. embassy officials in Baghdad did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The director of the digital diplomacy bureau at Israel's foreign ministry, David Saranga, posted on X that "Fawzia, a Yazidi girl kidnapped by ISIS from Iraq and brought to Gaza at just 11 years old, has finally been rescued by the Israeli security forces."
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
A State Department spokesperson said the United States on Oct. 1 "helped to safely evacuate from Gaza a young Yezidi woman to be reunited with her family in Iraq."
The spokesperson said she was kidnapped from her home in Iraq aged 11 and sold and trafficked to Gaza. Her captor was recently killed, allowing her to escape and seek repatriation, the spokesperson said.
Sinjaree said she was in good physical condition but was traumatized by her time in captivity and by the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. She had since been reunited with family in northern Iraq, he added.
More than 6,000 Yazidis were captured by Islamic State militants from Sinjar region in Iraq in 2014, with many sold into sexual slavery or trained as child soldiers and taken across borders, including to Turkey and Syria.
Over the years, more than 3,500 have been rescued or freed, according to Iraqi authorities, with some 2,600 still missing.
Many are feared dead but Yazidi activists say they believe hundreds are still alive.
(Reporting by Timour Azhari; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Yazidi woman rescued from Gaza after decade in captivity
Zahra Fatima
BBC News
Zahra Fatima
BBC News
Reuters
The Yazidis in northern Iraq were attacked by the Islamic State group in northern Iraq in 2014 (file picture)
A Yazidi woman who was kidnapped aged 11 in Iraq by the Islamic State group and subsequently taken to Gaza has been rescued after more than a decade in captivity there, officials from Israel, the US and Iraq said.
The Yazidis are a religious minority who mostly live in Iraq and Syria. In 2014 the Islamic State group overran the Yazidi community in Sinjar in northern Iraq, massacring thousands of men, and enslaving girls and women.
The Israeli military said the now 21-year-old's captor in Gaza had been killed during the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas, probably as a result of an air strike.
The woman, identified as Fawzia Amin Sido, then fled to another place in Gaza.
The Israeli military said Ms Sido was eventually freed during a "complex operation coordinated between Israel, the United States, and other international actors" and taken to Iraq via Israel and Jordan.
Iraqi foreign ministry official Silwan Sinjaree told Reuters that several earlier attempts to rescue her over the course of about four months failed because of the security situation in Gaza.
Mr Sinjaree said Ms Silo was in good physical condition, but had been traumatised by her time in captivity and by the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Video shared by Canadian philanthropist Steve Maman showed Ms Sido reuniting with her family in Iraq.
Posting on X, Mr Maman said: "I made a promise to Fawzia the Yazidi who was hostage of Hamas in Gaza that I would bring her back home to her mother in Sinjar.
"To her it seemed surreal and impossible but not to me, my only enemy was time. Our team reunited her moments ago with her mother and family in Sinjar."
Young women fear return to a broken land of rubble and brutality
The fight to free Yazidi women slaves held by IS
The Islamic State group once controlled 88,000 sq km (34,000 sq miles) of territory stretching from eastern Iraq to western Syria and imposed its brutal rule on almost eight million people.
In August 2014, IS militants swept through Iraq's north-western Sinjar region, which is the homeland of the Yazidi religious minority.
In numerous Yazidi villages, the population was rounded up. Men and boys over the age of 14 were separated from women and girls. The men were then led away and shot, while the women were abducted as the "spoils of war".
Some of the Yazidi girls and women who later escaped from captivity described being openly sold or handed over into sexual slavery as "gifts" to IS members.
The Islamic State group is believed to have killed more than 3,000 Yazidis and captured 6,000 others in total.
The UN said IS committed genocide as well as multiple crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Yazidis.
Iraqi authorities say more than 3,500 members of the community have been rescued or freed and about 2,600 people remain missing.
The Yazidis in northern Iraq were attacked by the Islamic State group in northern Iraq in 2014 (file picture)
A Yazidi woman who was kidnapped aged 11 in Iraq by the Islamic State group and subsequently taken to Gaza has been rescued after more than a decade in captivity there, officials from Israel, the US and Iraq said.
The Yazidis are a religious minority who mostly live in Iraq and Syria. In 2014 the Islamic State group overran the Yazidi community in Sinjar in northern Iraq, massacring thousands of men, and enslaving girls and women.
The Israeli military said the now 21-year-old's captor in Gaza had been killed during the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas, probably as a result of an air strike.
The woman, identified as Fawzia Amin Sido, then fled to another place in Gaza.
The Israeli military said Ms Sido was eventually freed during a "complex operation coordinated between Israel, the United States, and other international actors" and taken to Iraq via Israel and Jordan.
Iraqi foreign ministry official Silwan Sinjaree told Reuters that several earlier attempts to rescue her over the course of about four months failed because of the security situation in Gaza.
Mr Sinjaree said Ms Silo was in good physical condition, but had been traumatised by her time in captivity and by the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Video shared by Canadian philanthropist Steve Maman showed Ms Sido reuniting with her family in Iraq.
Posting on X, Mr Maman said: "I made a promise to Fawzia the Yazidi who was hostage of Hamas in Gaza that I would bring her back home to her mother in Sinjar.
"To her it seemed surreal and impossible but not to me, my only enemy was time. Our team reunited her moments ago with her mother and family in Sinjar."
Young women fear return to a broken land of rubble and brutality
The fight to free Yazidi women slaves held by IS
The Islamic State group once controlled 88,000 sq km (34,000 sq miles) of territory stretching from eastern Iraq to western Syria and imposed its brutal rule on almost eight million people.
In August 2014, IS militants swept through Iraq's north-western Sinjar region, which is the homeland of the Yazidi religious minority.
In numerous Yazidi villages, the population was rounded up. Men and boys over the age of 14 were separated from women and girls. The men were then led away and shot, while the women were abducted as the "spoils of war".
Some of the Yazidi girls and women who later escaped from captivity described being openly sold or handed over into sexual slavery as "gifts" to IS members.
The Islamic State group is believed to have killed more than 3,000 Yazidis and captured 6,000 others in total.
The UN said IS committed genocide as well as multiple crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Yazidis.
Iraqi authorities say more than 3,500 members of the community have been rescued or freed and about 2,600 people remain missing.
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