A Yazidi woman kidnapped by ISIS in the Gaza Strip was released after ten years of captivity

ISIS kidnapped a 21-year-old woman from Iraq's Yazidi minority ten years ago. Now she has been released.

Ten years later, Fouzia Sidou reunites with her family. This image is a screenshot from a video shared on social media.

It has been ten years since ISIS violence against YazidisYazidisThe Yazidis belong to a religious minority mainly from northern Iraq. It began in northern Iraq, where more than 3,000 Yazidis, mostly men and elderly women, were killed, and about 6,000 children were captured.

Many victims remain missing, but now a woman, who was just 11 years old when she was kidnapped by ISIS, has been reunited with her family.

She has been identified as Fauzia Sidhu, her age is now 21 years old.

“She should be in good physical condition, but she was psychologically traumatized after her time in captivity in Gaza,” she writes. Reuters. It is unclear what happened to her two children.

More attempts

Work on the release was difficult due to the security situation in Gaza. He writes that there were several failed attempts The Guardian.

The director of the Iraqi Foreign Minister's Office, Salwan Sinjari, said that the campaign took four months.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry says there has been cooperation between the United States, Israel, Jordan and Iraq.

Forced marriage

according to Jerusalem Post The woman was forced to marry in Syria to a Palestinian fighter with ties to ISIS. Then she was transferred to Gaza. She is said to have been subjected to repeated sexual assaults while in captivity, the newspaper wrote.

Earlier this year, her husband was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike, and she managed to escape.

Then I got a cell phone. The newspaper wrote that she used it to post a video on TikTok.

By Bond Robertson

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