Yazidi woman kidnapped by IS when she was 11 freed from Gaza in US-led operation after decade in captivity
In short:
A woman who was kidnapped by Islamic State when she was 11 has been rescued from Gaza and reunited with her family after 10 years in captivity.
Fawzia Sido, a member of the ancient Yazidi religious minority, was sold and trafficked into Gaza in 2014 when militants kidnapped her from her home in Iraq.
What's next?
Iraqi officials said Ms Sido was resting after reuniting with her family in northern Iraq this week.
A woman who was kidnapped by Islamic State group militants in Iraq when she was 11 has been freed from Gaza after a decade in captivity.
The 21-year-old, who is a member of the ancient Yazidi religious minority, was kidnapped from her home in 2014. She was then sold and trafficked into Gaza.
In a secret US-led operation this week, she was rescued and reunited with her family after her captor died and she was able to escape and seek repatriation, officials said.
More than 5,000 members of the Yazidi religious minority, mostly found in Iraq and Syria, were killed and thousands more kidnapped in an IS campaign in 2014 that the UN has said constituted genocide.
The moment Fawzia Sido meets her relatives at an unknown location.
The woman was freed after more than four months of efforts that involved several failed attempts due to the difficult security situation of 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, with Iraqi officials saying she was resting after reuniting with her family in northern Iraq.
Iraqi officials had been in contact with the woman for months and passed on her information to US officials, who arranged for her exit from Gaza with the help of Israel, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Iraq and Israel do not have any diplomatic ties.
The Israeli military said it had coordinated with the US embassy in Jerusalem and "other international actors" in the operation to free Ms Sido.
It said in a statement her captor had been killed during the Gaza war, presumably by an Israeli strike, and she then fled to a hideout inside the Gaza Strip.
Fawzia Sido was kidnapped by Islamic State in Iraq 10 years ago.
"In a complex operation coordinated between Israel, the United States, and other international actors, she was recently rescued in a secret mission from the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom Crossing," it said.
After entering Israel, she continued to Jordan through the Allenby Bridge Crossing and from there returned to her family in Iraq, the military said.
A State Department spokesperson said the United States on Tuesday "helped to safely evacuate from Gaza a young Yezidi woman to be reunited with her family in Iraq".
A US defence official said the American military did not have a role in the evacuation.
Mr Sinjaree said she was in good physical condition but was traumatised by her time in captivity and by the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had directly followed up on the issue with US officials on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last month, according to Khalaf Sinjar, Mr Sudani's adviser for Yazidi affairs.
More than 6,000 Yazidis were captured by Islamic State group 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.
Reuters
By：https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-04/yazidi-woman-freed-from-gaza-in-us-led-operation-after-decade-in/104431966(责任编辑：admin)
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