US-led Operation Rescues Yazidi Women from Gaza After a Decade of ISIS Captivity
A 21-year-old Yazidi woman who was kidnapped by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq a decade ago has been rescued from Gaza in a complex international operation, officials said. The woman, identified as Fawzia Amin Sido, was abducted at age 11 during ISIS attacks on the Yazidi community in Sinjar in 2014. After years of captivity and trafficking, she has been reunited with her family in Iraq.
The rescue, coordinated by the United States, Israel, and Iraq, took months to plan and execute. Sido had been trafficked to Gaza and forced into marriage with a Palestinian ISIS fighter. She suffered years of abuse while cut off from her family. Her captor was reportedly killed during Israel’s recent military operations in Gaza. She was evacuated in a secret operation that included U.S. and Israeli military cooperation. She was transported through the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Israel, then taken to Jordan, and finally returned to her family in northern Iraq.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed their role in the operation, working in coordination with the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and “other international actors.” Iraqi officials, including Silwan Sinjaree, chief of staff to Iraq’s foreign minister, noted that previous rescue attempts had failed due to the unstable security situation.
Sido belongs to the Yazidi religious minority, which faced severe persecution by ISIS during the group’s 2014 campaign in Iraq. The United Nations has classified the atrocities committed against the Yazidis, including mass killings and sexual slavery, as genocide. More than 6,000 Yazidis were captured, and while 3,500 have been freed, many remain missing.
