Thousands of Yezidis’ fates still unknown: Yezidi House
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Member of the Yezidi House in the Jazira region, northeast Syria, Mahmoud Rasho, said that they are working to liberate the remaining Yezidis who were captured by the Islamic State (ISIS) in the summer of 2014, where the fate of thousands of them is still unknown.
In August 2014, ISIS kidnapped 6,417 Yezidis, most of them were women and children, while about 360,000 fled from the Shingal (Sinjar) area.
“ISIS captured and killed thousands of Yezidis during the attacks on Shengal (Sinjar),” Rasho added.
The Yezidi House in Jazira, which is a civil non-governmental organization, works to return the liberated 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 number of those still missing from the kidnapped by ISIS is 2,763, including 1,293 women and 1,470 young men and women.
The Yezidi House in the Jazira region was able to hand over 410 women and children to their families after their liberation in Syria.
The majority of the Yezidis live in the Shingal (Sinjar) area, which has been divided administratively into 13 complexes, each of which includes between 4,000 and 5,000 families. These complexes are Kocho, Sunoun, Khan Sur, Tel Aziz, Tel Banat, Tel Qasab and many other complexes, in addition to the city of Shengal (Sinjar).
August 3 of this year marked the 7th anniversary of the ISIS attack on the Shingal (Sinjar) district and the execution and kidnapping of thousands of Yezidis.
According to the latest statistics published by the Yezidi Rescue Office, based in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, the number of the displaced Yezidis as a result of the ISIS attack has reached about 360,000, of whom 150,000 and have returned to Shingal (Sinjar).
“When ISIS first entered Shingal (Sinjar), they massacred about 3,893 people and kidnapped 6,417 people,” Rasho said.
He pointed out that 3,550 of them have been liberated so far, including 1,206 women, 339 men, 1,049 girls and 956 children.”
In Shingal (Sinjar) district alone, 82 mass graves and dozens of individual grave sites for ISIS victims were found, in addition to the destruction of 68 religious shrines, according to the Yezidi Rescue Office.