Yazidi woman rescued from ISIS captivity returns from NE Syria to Iraq
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A Yazidi woman who was held captive by the Islamic State (ISIS) has been rescued and returned to Iraq from Northeast Syria, a Kurdish official said on Tuesday.
Hussein Qaidi, head of the Kidnapped Yazidi Rescue Office affiliated with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), told Rudaw, a Kurdish media network based in Erbil, that a woman named Tawaf Dawoud Chato, has returned to Iraq from Northeast Syria.
On Aug. 3, 2014, ISIS killed thousands of Yazidi men and kidnaped more than 6,000 Yazidis during its attack on Sinjar (Shengal).
Most of Yazidis were sold as sex slaves by ISIS militants in markets in Syria and Iraq.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) managed to free hundreds of Yazidis in Syria after ISIS’ defeat in its last stronghold in the town of Baghuz in eastern Deir ez-Zor. Many, however, remain missing.
Qaidi added that Chato currently remains with the Iraqi security forces until she can be returned to her hometown in Sinjar.
Data from Qaidi’s office shows that so far 3,576 Yazidis who were abducted have been rescued.
On March 2, the Yazidi House in Hasakah Governorate in northeastern Syria reunited a Yazidi woman, Kovan Aidi Khourto, with her family in Sinjar after she was rescued from captivity by the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), an all-female military formation of the SDF.
The Yezidi House, a civil non-governmental organization, works to return freed prisoners and kidnapped people in Syria to their families in coordination with the official authorities of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
The AANES has not commented on Chato’s rescue yet.