Raqqa’s mothers tell stories of their sons captured by ISIS
Raqqa – North-Press Agency
Abdullatif Hilal
“He is not dead to visit his grave nor alive or captured to visit him in the prison, his absence has extended for long, my heart died and the tears of my eyes dried because of my son, I am waiting for him to come back”.
This is what Dahiyyeh Al-Rajab told North-Press who is from the village of Kabash in the countryside of Raqqa, where she’s still waiting for the return of her son “Abdul Majid Al-Nayef”, who was captured by ISIS on February 10, 2014.
“My son did not join any military faction, he was less than 18 years old when they took him, his only charge that he was spending the night at his uncle’s house. In the morning, ISIS militants came and took my son from his bed while he was asleep,” Dahiyyeh Al-Rajab added.
“My son did nothing, they told me that he’ll be back within two days, now, he’s been absent for more than six years, we don’t know if he is dead or alive, I’ve lost hope of his return,” she said.
The family of Abdul Majid Al-Naif said that they’d received news when Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) took control of the city of Raqqa in 2017, they kept the prisoners of the Islamic State, pointing out that some SDF members assured them that there were prisoners in Al-Omar Field in Deir ez-Zor.
Zarifa Al-Abbadi, from the village of Kabash, whose 23-old-year son, Muhammad Obeid Al-Khalaf, was also captured by ISIS on April 23, 2014, and seized his car.
When he was arrested, Muhammad Obeid Al-Khalaf was 40 years old; so, ISIS deprived him of seeing his eight children as they grew up.
“I didn’t enjoy eating or drinking, I cannot forget him for a single moment, especially when I see his little children, my heart is about to be torn,” the mother Zarifa told North-Press while expressing her pain.
“When ISIS was expelled from Raqqa, I expected him to come, I sometimes say to myself that there is no ISIS anymore, but Muhammad did not come,” Zarifa added.
After three months of his detention, a detainee was released from ISIS prison, he told the family of Muhammad Al-Khalaf about the extent of the torture Muhammad was subjected to by saying: “Because of the severity of the torture, your son was saying words that could not be understood, he was harshly kicked on his stomach, he was vomiting everything he ate and his hands were paralyzed due to the effects of hanging”.
When AL-Khalaf’s mother hears these words, her heart breaks and says: “Now I have no hopes for his return”.
Thahiba Al-Khalaf, another mother of the village of Kabash, similar to the previous women, on 10 February 2014, ISIS arrested her son Khalil Al-Khalaf when he was 26 years old.
Five months after his arrest, Ali, his younger brother, joined ISIS; later, the family heard that Ali had been killed in Iraq.
“I lost my middle son Khalil and my younger son Ali, but what puzzles me is that my middle son was arrested by ISIS and we don’t know where he is, and even though they told us that he was killed, but there is no grave for him, the thing that makes me feel of a little hope,” Thahiba said.
“What’ve happened to us? Two brothers, one of whom was killed by ISIS and the other was killed in the ranks of it, what sedition!” She added.
According to the statistics of the Center for Documentation of Violations in Northern Syria, the number of abductees by ISIS whose names were documented is (4700–5000) civilians, (1000–1300) of them were released, while (700–1000) detainees were sentenced to death, and the fate of (1000–1300) is still unknown, where most of them were arrested between the years of 2014–2017.