A Yazidi woman held captive by Islamic terrorists for the past decade has escaped and been reunited with her family in Iraq after being evacuated to safety on Oct. 1 thanks to a coordinated effort by Israeli and U.S. officials, the State Department said Thursday on FOX This was confirmed by News Digital. .
Fauzia Amin Sid, now 21, was kidnapped by ISIS terrorists when she was just 11 years old and trafficked to Gaza, where she was forced to marry an alleged Hamas fighter. .
Amin Sid is believed to have been able to escape to a “safe house” in the Gaza Strip after his captors were killed in an apparent Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attack.
Fauzia Amin Sid escaped Hamas captivity in Gaza after being kidnapped 10 years ago. Her identity remains protected by international authorities. (Photo provided by Israel Defense Forces)
Children who were once taken hostage are still working despite their trauma: “Are they coming after us again?”
“She was recently rescued from the Gaza Strip in a secret mission through the Kerem Shalom crossing, in a complex operation involving Israel, the United States, and other international actors,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Thursday. “Once she entered Israel, she crossed the Allenby Bridge to Jordan and from there returned to her family in Iraq.”
The operation was led by the Israel Defense Forces' Territorial Government Operations Coordination Unit, with support from the U.S. Embassy in Israel and other international stakeholders, although the Defense Force did not reveal who was responsible. do not have.
“Her story is heartbreaking and we are glad she will be reunited with her family in Iraq,” a State Department spokesperson told FOX News Digital. “As a secretary [Antony] Blinken noted that “2,600 Yazidis remain missing and unaccounted for.” We are determined to find them, learn their fate and rescue the survivors. ”
The IDF said the systematic human trafficking operation in Amin Sid's case was “further evidence of links between the terrorist organizations Hamas and ISIS.”
Following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip on September 29, 2024, the extent of the destruction caused by the Israeli attack became clear and the state of the destroyed buildings was revealed. (Abd Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Why haven't ISIS members been charged with genocide or sexual violence against Yazidis?
ISIS attacked the Yazidi population of the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar in August 2014, abducting approximately 6,400 people and killing another 1,200. According to the report According to the Times of Israel.
It is reported that about half of the abductees were able to escape or have been released.
The growing ties between ISIS and other terrorist organizations like Hamas signify increasing change in the Middle East, with extremist groups often encouraged by Iranian support and despite their pre-existing differences. We are expanding our relationship.
A female member of Iraq's Yazidi community photographs the victims of the August 2014 massacre carried out by Islamic State militants in the Sinjar region on the 8th anniversary of the attack at the faith's holiest shrine, Lalish Shrine. It is displayed during the ceremony. August 2, 2022, in the Lalish Valley near the Kurdish city of Duhok in Iraq. (Photo by ISMAEL ADNAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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The IDF vowed to continue countering the “Hamas/ISIS terrorist organization” by attacking infrastructure facilities in terrorist strongholds, and promised to “free all hostages held by Hamas.”
Hamas still holds 101 people hostage in Gaza, including seven Americans, most of whom were captured in the October 7, 2023 attack; was abducted in 2014 and 2015.
This figure does not include other Yazidi abductees mentioned by Blinken who may also be detained in Gaza.
