ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Yezidi woman who fled the attack of Islamist militants earlier this month, gave birth to quintuplets in a Syrian hospital this week.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Wednesday that Tamam, 27, gave birth by Caesarean section at a hospital in the Kurdish city of Qamishli a week after she fled on foot.
“She gave birth in the seventh month of her pregnancy, but thank God the mother and babies are all in good health,” a doctor at the private hospital told UNHCR.
Tamam is a Syrian national but she moved to Mosul last year after marrying an Iraqi man.
She has now joined thousands of other Yezidis who fled Mosul and Shingal after they were taken over by militants of the Islamic State (IS/formerly ISIS).
Syria’s Kurdish areas, known as Rojava, are home to a large population of Yezidis.
“We had to walk for two days before we reached the (Syrian) border,” the UNHCR quoted Tamam as saying, adding that she, her husband and seven other Yezidi families had shared only one bottle of water between them.
According to the UNHCR, Tamam is currently staying at her parents' house near Qamishli and “worries about how to take care of her newborn babies and meet their needs.”
“We will not be able to provide nappies and milk for five children because of our poor financial situation,” she said.
UNHCR reported that it has provided Tamam with diapers and other infant necessities, plus an undisclosed cash grant.
The UN refugee agency said it is delivering humanitarian aid and life-saving supplies to everyone within reach.
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