“I feel very happy. My feelings cannot be described. After ten years, I don't know anything about my relatives. Thank God I have reunited with them safely,” Tawaf Dawoud Chato told Rudaw on Monday after arriving in Duhok’s Zakho town. She could not speak her native Kurdish language and spoke in Arabic instead.
“I thank everyone who helped rescue me,” she added.
She was 14 when ISIS kidnapped her and thousands of other Yazidis during their attack on Shingal on August 10, 2024. The group committed genocide and abducted 6,417 women and children, forcing them into sexual slavery and labor. So far, 3,581 have been rescued, Hussein Qaidi, head of the Office for Rescuing Abducted Yazidis, which facilitated her return, told Rudaw on Monday
Chato was rescued by the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), an all-woman force in Rojava, in June but the force announced her rescue one day before the 10th anniversary of the genocide.
The YPJ said the 24-year-old Chato is from Gir Uzer village in Shingal. They captured her on the Syria-Iraq border when she was trying to escape ISIS captivity. When interrogated by the Kurdish force, she revealed her Yazidi identity.
The Kurdish force also announced the rescue of Khunav Naif Khidhir who was only two months old when ISIS took her. She accompanied Chato on Monday.
The Yazidi child was raised by Azize Khali, 25, who was also kidnapped by ISIS in 2024 but was rescued by YPJ along with the minor. The two were rescued from the notorious al-Hol camp in Hasaka province.
Yehia Rasool, military spokesperson for Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, said in a statement on Monday that the Iraqi intelligence “were able to return two Yazidi girls who were kidnapped by the evil ISIS terrorist gangs during their rape of the lands of Nineveh province” without identifying the rescuees. However, he shared the photos of Chato and Khidhir with the statement after their arrival to Iraq.
Over 40,000 people affiliated with ISIS are being held at al-Hol, including many Yazidi women who are reluctant to reveal their identities for fear of reprisals from radical individuals in the camp
“We have realized that there could be around 400 people at al-Hol camp, including Yazidi women and children, whom we have been trying to rescue but there has not been much cooperation,” Qaidi from the Office for Rescuing Abducted Yazidis told Rudaw on Monday.
He also said that ISIS-affiliated individuals have formed a “mini-government” at the camp, preventing Yazidis from disclosing their identities. Despite this, the office remains committed to continuing their efforts to rescue the kidnapped individuals.
“We assure all Yazidi brothers and sisters that the work of the teams of the office to rescue the kidnapped Yazidis will continue until all are rescued. Thousands of the victims need long-term psychological treatment and special care which should be provided,” Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said a speech delivered at an event in Erbil to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Yazidi Genocide.
Gharib Majeed contributed to this article.
