Baghdad, Iraq: A Yazidi woman identified as Fawzia Amin Sido, abducted at the age of 11 by the Islamic State in Iraq and later taken to Gaza, has been rescued after spending over a decade in captivity. This information comes from officials representing Israel, the U.S., and Iraq.
According to the Israeli military, the Yazidi woman, now 21 years old, had her captor killed during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, likely due to an airstrike.
The Yazidis, a religious minority primarily residing in Iraq and Syria, faced a devastating attack in 2014 when the Islamic State group seized control of the Yazidi community in Sinjar, resulting in the massacre of thousands of men and the enslavement of women and girls.
๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ณ๐, ๐ ๐๐-๐ฒ๐๐๐ซ-๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ณ๐ข๐๐ข ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐๐ซโฆ https://t.co/zIw2G4uF9X pic.twitter.com/WLbsI003L0
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 3, 2024
The Israeli military said that, 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 stated that multiple attempts to rescue Fawzia Sido over four months were unsuccessful due to the precarious security situation in Gaza. He noted that while she was physically well, she had experienced trauma from her captivity and the severe humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
The Islamic State group is believed to have killed more than 3,000 Yazidis and captured 6,000 others in total.
The UN has stated that ISIS committed genocide and numerous crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Yazidi community. Iraqi officials report that over 3,500 Yazidis have been rescued or freed, while approximately 2,600 individuals remain missing.