A Yezidi family fleeing the ISIS onslaught against the religious minority make their way back into the Kurdistan Region on a border crossing with the Syrian Kurdistan in August 2014. Many Yezidis who fled the genocide initially sought refuge in Syria before heading to the Kurdish cities in Kurdistan Region and elsewhere. File photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A family of eight Yezidis were rescued from ISIS during a special operation by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near Deir ez Zor.
Early Saturday morning, the multi-ethnic Kurdish majority SDF forces carried out a special operation in a Deir ez Zor suburb, rescuing five children and three women from ISIS captivity as reported by Hawar News Agency.
Once the Yezidi family was brought to safety within liberated areas, they told Hawar that there were several families, mostly children and women, who still remained under ISIS control.
When ISIS militants brutally marched into Shingal and its surroundings in August 2014, they arrested thousands of Yezidis. Some of them were collectively killed in the region, other girls and women were taken and later sold as sex slaves by ISIS members.
According to official reports released by YAZDA, a Yezidi rights group in September, nearly 7,000 Yezidi men, women and children were abducted in the first days of ISIS’ attack on Shingal in August 2014.
ISIS has suffered a series of defeats in Deir ez-Zor, including the loss of their de facto capital of Raqqa, although fighting still continues to retake al-Boukamal, the last Syrian city the militant group controls.
Early Saturday morning, the multi-ethnic Kurdish majority SDF forces carried out a special operation in a Deir ez Zor suburb, rescuing five children and three women from ISIS captivity as reported by Hawar News Agency.
Once the Yezidi family was brought to safety within liberated areas, they told Hawar that there were several families, mostly children and women, who still remained under ISIS control.
When ISIS militants brutally marched into Shingal and its surroundings in August 2014, they arrested thousands of Yezidis. Some of them were collectively killed in the region, other girls and women were taken and later sold as sex slaves by ISIS members.
According to official reports released by YAZDA, a Yezidi rights group in September, nearly 7,000 Yezidi men, women and children were abducted in the first days of ISIS’ attack on Shingal in August 2014.
The reports stated that as many as 1,636 women and girls and 1,173 men and boys still remain unaccounted for.
ISIS has suffered a series of defeats in Deir ez-Zor, including the loss of their de facto capital of Raqqa, although fighting still continues to retake al-Boukamal, the last Syrian city the militant group controls.
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