Yazidis held captive by ISIL reunite with their families in Iraq
A group of Yazidis, mostly children, reunite with their families after returning from last ISIL-held pocket in Syria.
A group of Yazidi women and children are reunited with their families in Iraq after five years in captivity at the hands of ISIL group fighters.
They hug and kiss relatives in emotional scenes that underscored their years-long ordeal and that of their devastated community.
Elated families met their loved ones at a rural truck stop on the road between Sinjar and Dohuk on Saturday, tossing candies in the air like confetti, the women ululating with joy.
The 18 returning children, aged 10 to 15, appeared weary and at times uneasy with the attention of the media and officials.One teenage boy collapsed in his aunt's arms and broke down in tears. Few parents were there to receive their children - many are still missing in territory held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS, or have been confirmed killed. Other parents have already sought asylum in Western nations, in the hopes, their children will be able to follow them.
Still, the children could not hide their joy at being hugged and kissed once more by their relatives after the long and traumatic separation.
They included 11 boys that many fear were trained in military camps run by ISIL, though they all denied it.
Only days since escaping the group, which is now on the brink of defeat, the children were struggling to come to terms with their ordeal.
"They treated us well," said 13-year-old Milad Hussein Khalaf. He said the fighters separated him from his family when they were abducted in 2014 and sent the then-eight-year-old to be raised by an ISIL family.
About 3,000 Yazidis are still missing after ISIL fighters stormed their communities in the Sinjar region in northwest Iraq in 2014, and enslaved, raped and killed thousands of worshippers of the esoteric faith. ISIL considers the Kurdish-speaking religious minority to be heretics.
aljazeera.com
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