Abducted Ezidi woman with four children rescued in Syria: Official

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Yezidi (Ezidi) woman who was kidnapped by the Islamic State (IS) in 2014 was rescued along with her four children from Syria, officials announced on Monday.

Their release came four years after they were abducted and held by the jihadist group, which overran the predominantly-Ezidi city of Sinjar (Shingal) and surrounding towns in Aug. 2014, according to the statement by the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) rescue office for kidnapped Ezidis.

Hussein Qaidi, the head of the rescue office, said the family of five were taken from Shingal’s Solagh town, located west of Mosul.

“Our efforts to rescue this Ezidi family were focused within the Syrian territory and involved our Duhok office affiliates,” the statement read without offering further details.

“They will be received by their family upon their arrival to the Kurdistan Region.”

Ezidis were subjected to atrocities and mass executions at the hands of the jihadist group for a number of years after IS overran Shingal mid-2014, forcing hundreds of thousands of the ethnoreligious minority to flee their homes. Others were not as lucky and remained stranded in the war zone.

IS is known for having subjected women to sexual slavery, kidnapped children for forced conversion, executed the men, abused, sold, and trafficked girls across areas they controlled in Iraq and Syria.

According to Qaidi, since the Ezidi Rescue office opened at the end of 2014, they have been able to “save more than half of Ezidis who were captured and held by the families of terrorists.” IS kidnaped over 6,000 Ezidis.

Editing by Nadia Riva