Yazidi woman freed from Gaza after decade in captivity

Yazidi woman freed from Gaza after decade in captivity

By Timour Azhari

A 21-year-old woman kidnapped by Islamic State militants in Iraq a decade ago was freed from Gaza this week in a secret operation months in the making that involved Israel, the United States and Iraq, officials said.

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 an IS campaign in 2014 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, with Iraqi officials saying she was resting after having been reunited with her family in northern Iraq.

Iraqi officials had been in contact with the woman for months and passed on her information to U.S. 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 U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and "other international actors" in the operation to free 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.

"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 on 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".

The spokesperson said she was kidnapped from her home in Iraq at age 11 and was sold and trafficked to Gaza. Her captor was recently killed, allowing her to escape and seek repatriation, the spokesperson said.

A U.S. defense official said the American military did not have a role in the evacuation.

TRAUMATIZED

Sinjaree said she was in good physical condition but was traumatized 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 U.S. officials on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York last month, according to Khalaf Sinjar, Sudani's adviser for Yazidi affairs.

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.