Yazidi woman kidnapped by IS returns to her family

(1 Mar 2021) LEAD IN:   A Yazidi woman returns to her family seven years after she was kidnapped by Islamic State group militants in Sinjar. Asimah Jassem had to leave her three-year old son from her husband, an IS group member in Syria, so that she could return to her family in Iraq. STORY-LINE:   A Yazidi woman had to make the tough decision of leaving her son behind in Syria in order to be reunited with her family in Iraq. Asimah Jassem returned to her family as an adult woman, seven years after she was kidnapped by Islamic State group militants at the age of 12 in Sinjar. Jassem was forced to marry IS group members at a very young age. She had three marriages, all with IS group militants. Her first marriage was at the age of 12, and she gave birth to her baby from her last marriage at the age of 15. Her last husband was a Syrian IS member from Deir ez-Zour. After IS' final defeat in Syria in 2019, Asimah was moved to al-Hol camp in eastern Syria where Kurdish authorities sent all captured IS family members. As the camp grew and became increasingly difficult to control, some of the Syrians and Iraqis were allowed to leave, among them Asimah and her child. Her family in Iraq then told her: she can come back to them only if she abandons her child, born from an IS fighter. Asimah made the decision to leave her three-year-old son behind. She is now with her sister in Qadia camp in Dohuk, where many displaced Yazidis live. The child was handed over to the Syrian Kurdish authorities and put in an orphanage in eastern Syria. "We still have hopes that my parents, three of my brothers, and my other sister will come back one day," said Nahida Jassem, Asimah's sister. Two of her sisters were returned at an earlier time and migrated to Canada. The family, who are originally from Sinjar, include Jassem's parents and eight children (three brothers and five sisters) in total. According to Hussein Al-Qaidy, head of the office for Yazidi abductees affairs in Dohuk, 3,545 Yazidis have returned and there are around 2,700 people still missing. "We believe that 400 to 500 of the 2,700 missing persons are staying in al-Hol camp in Hasaka province in Syria. But the international community and the Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria are not cooperating with us to bring them back home," said Al-Qaidy. Al-Hol camp currently houses some 60,000 IS family members and sympathizers, with Kurdish authorities struggling to control it. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...