On Thursday (4th October), the Israeli authorities informed that a Yazidi woman named Fawzi Amin Sido who was abducted from Iraq by ISIS in 2014 at the age of 11 and trafficked to the Gaza Strip has been rescued. The officials said that the woman has been reunited with her family. While Sido could regain freedom after a decade of sexual abuse, torture and other unspeakable atrocities, US media outlet CBS News blatantly attempted to downplay ISIS sex crimes.
The CBS News article and relevant X post suggested that the Yazidi woman was ‘stranded’ in Gaza, even though she was trafficked from Iraq into Gaza by ISIS terrorists and held in captivity by Hamas terrorists there, forcefully married and turned into a sex slave of the Islamic terrorist.
According to Israel’s foreign ministry, Sido was separated from her family in 2014 during ISIS attacks on Yazidi villages in Iraq, as the terror organisation infamous for its brutality grabbed control of huge sections of the nation. She was eventually sold to a Gazan man who was visiting Iraq at the time. Sido was recently retrieved and returned to her house by Israeli security officers.
I made a promise to Fawzia the yazidi who was hostage of Hamas in Gaza that I would bring her back home to her mother in Sinjar. To her it seemed surreal and impossible but not to me, my only enemy was time. Our team reunited her moments ago with her mother and family in Sinjar pic.twitter.com/KuN9JPuGOb
— Steve maman (@stevemaman) October 2, 2024
The Israel Defence Forces stated that Sido was rescued in a sophisticated operation organised by the IDF’s COGAT, the US Embassy in Jerusalem, and “other members of the international community.”
The IDF stated that the “terrorist who had been holding her” was recently killed in an Israeli attack during the fighting in Gaza, allowing her to flee to a hiding spot in Gaza.
“A𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐚𝐳𝐚, 𝐚 𝟐𝟏-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐘𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐝𝐢 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐇𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐒 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐪. In an operation coordinated by the IDF and led by @cogatonline @USEmbassyJLM and other international actors, Fawzia Amin Sido was freed from captivity and returned home to Iraq. At 11 years old, Fawzia was trafficked by ISIS to a Hamas terrorist in Gaza, who was presumably killed during IDF strikes. She fled to a hideout in which she was rescued in a secret mission through the Kerem Shalom Crossing,” the IDF said.
𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐚𝐳𝐚, 𝐚 𝟐𝟏-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐘𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐝𝐢 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐇𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐒 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫…
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 3, 2024
The Israeli Defence Forces further stressed that the case of the Yazidi woman rescued from Gaza proves that the Palestinian Islamic terror group Hamas and ISIS are inter-connected and committing crimes against humanity. The IDF also reiterated its resolve to “dismantle” Hamas and ISIS as well as free hostages from Hamas captivity.
“This is further proof of the connection between Hamas and ISIS, as well as the crimes against humanity committed by the terrorist organization in Gaza. We will continue to act to dismantle the Hamas-ISIS terrorist organization and free all hostages in Hamas captivity,” the IDF said.
The Yazidi genocide and enslavement of women by ISIS
Back in 2014, the Islamic terror outfit ISIS began mass killings of Yazidi people in Sinjar, an area in northern Iraq. ISIS jihadis targeted Yazidis for their religious identity and killed thousands of people and abducted Yazidi women and children.
On the 3rd of August 2014, ISIS launched a deadly attack on Sinjar wherein thousands of Yazidi men who refused to convert to Islam were killed, while women and children were kidnapped. According to reports, around 5,000 Yazidi men were murdered during the initial days of the ethnic cleansing of Yazidis. As per a UNHCR report from 2016, “at least 3,200 Yazidi women and girls remain captives of ISIS, the majority of them held inside ISIS-controlled areas of Syria.”
On how the Yazidi captives were transferred to ISIS-controlled locations, the UNHCR report said: “Regardless of where the Yazidi families were captured, ISIS fighters swiftly ordered the separation of males and females, except boys who had not reached puberty,12 who were allowed to remain with their mothers. Within an hour, those who survived capture were forcibly transferred to temporary holding sites. ISIS operational commanders communicated these primary transfer locations, located within the Sinjar area and in the Hasakah governorate in Syria, to their fighters and checkpoints by walkie-talkies and mobile phones. Secondary transfers were later conducted in an organized manner, with buses and large vehicles moving captured Yazidis to designated holding sites in Mosul, Tel Afar and Baaj, deeper inside ISIS-controlled territory.”
Notably, among the most harrowing part of the ISIS onslaught against Yazidis was that the ISIS jihadis enslaved Yazidi women and girls. ISIS blatantly justified the enslavement and sexual torture of Yazidi women citing Islamic beliefs. ISIS says that Yazidis are Mushriks or polytheists and Islam does not tolerate polytheists, thus their enslavement and abuse is permitted. It is pertinent to mention that Islam has a concept of “Maal-e-Ghanimat”, in this, the Ghanima implies “spoils of war” which may include land, wealth, cattle, women and children. ISIS captured almost 6,000 Yazidi women and girls whom they called Sabaya [slaves] and subjected them to brutal sexual assault, with many being sold in slave markets or “Souk Sabaya” as “war booty” or offered as ‘rewards’ to ISIS terrorists. The Yazidi women were sold multiple times.
There have been reports that some Yazidi women were trafficked to various places, including Gaza, and used as sex slaves by ISIS sympathisers. While the exact numbers of those transferred to Gaza are uncertain, it is widely reported that ISIS trafficked Yazidi women across borders, including into Syria and territories outside Iraq.
