Thanks to the Gaza airstrike... 21-year-old woman escapes after 10 years as IS hostage

Kidnapped During IS's 2014 Yazidi Massacre
Escaped After 10 Years... Iraq and Israel Cooperation

A woman from the Iraqi minority Yazidi ethnic group, who was kidnapped by the international terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) at the age of 11, was rescued after 10 years. It is reported that she endured harsh living conditions in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.

According to foreign media reports including Al Jazeera on the 5th (local time), Silwan Sinjari, Chief of Staff to the Iraqi Foreign Minister, announced that Iraq, the United States, and Israel succeeded in rescuing Fajia Sido (21) after a four-month secret operation. News of Sido's rescue was first revealed on the 3rd.

Chief of Staff Sinjari explained, "There were difficulties in the rescue process, including several failures due to Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip," but added, "Sido's health is relatively good." However, it is reported that Sido is in a state of psychological shock due to her long captivity in the Gaza Strip.

The woman on the right is Fajia Sido, who was kidnapped by the Islamic State in 2014. After being rescued, she is reported to have contacted relatives from an undisclosed location for safety.
[Image source=Captured from X]

Sido told CNN, "I stayed in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip for one year," and described life there as "unbearable." After the outbreak of war following the Israeli attacks by the Palestinian armed faction Hamas, she is known to have frequently moved her place of residence.

Then, on the 1st, it is presumed that the person who kidnapped her died due to an airstrike by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and subsequently, a non-governmental organization (NGO) rescued Sido.

The Israeli military also issued a statement on the same day, saying that they conducted a complex secret operation in cooperation with other foreign authorities, including the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, to rescue Sido. Iraq and Israel do not have diplomatic relations. A U.S. State Department spokesperson also stated that they helped Sido reunite with her family but explained that U.S. troops were not directly involved in the rescue operation.

In 2014, IS attacked Sinjar in northern Iraq, where the Yazidi population resides, killing about 5,000 men and kidnapping about 6,000 women. The Yazidis are a minority ethnic group mainly living in northern Iraq who speak Kurdish. They believe in a unique faith that blends Christianity, Islam, and ancient Zoroastrianism, which led IS, an Islamic extremist group, to take a hostile stance against the Yazidis.

After the 2014 attack, about 100,000 Yazidis were forced to leave their homes and live as refugees, scattering across Europe, the United States, Australia, Canada, and other places. Their living area was effectively destroyed. The United Nations (UN) classified IS's attack at that time as a "genocide."