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.
𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐚𝐳𝐚, 𝐚 𝟐𝟏-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐘𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐝𝐢 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐇𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐒 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫… 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.
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