Yazidi mothers abandon children born to IS fathers

(3 Aug 2019) Yazidi women who were kidnapped and forced to marry Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria were forced to abandon the children they had there in order to return to Iraq, according to survivors.

They were recounting their ordeal in interviews with The Associated Press on the 5th anniversary of the IS attack on the Yazidi community in the Sinjar region, a Kurdish-speaking area of Iraq.

The militants shot the men and abducted thousands of women and children.

One of the girls was 13 when she was taken, along with her sisters and brothers, and sold into slavery.

She was then made to marry an IS fighter in the militant stronghold of al Mayadin in Syria.

She had three children with him.

But when IS was defeated and she was able to leave, she was forced to abandon the children in an orphanage supervised by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

She now lives in a small village in northern Mosul and is hoping to join her mother and other sisters in Germany.

Her three brothers are missing.

Another young Yazidi mother left behind a child fathered by an IS militant in Syria.

She said that when she had the opportunity to leave the IS stronghold where she had been living, her child was taken from her by the mainly-Kurdish YPG militia.

Five years on from the day their community was devastated in Sinjar, Yazidi leaders say they live in disarray, mostly in camps, and with no security in their villages that still lie largely in ruins.



Find out more about AP Archive:

Twitter:

Facebook:

Google+:

Tumblr:

Instagram:





You can license this story through AP Archive:

AP Archive,4223464,b156861d18d014dd2baf55adb2f791e1,Iraq Yazidi,Iraq,Middle East,Syria,General news,