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‘Dead or Alive’: Iraq’s Yazidis Anxiously Await ISIS-abducted Relatives

ISIS considered the Yazidis as heretics and massacred thousands of Yazidi men, enlisted children, and kidnapped thousands of women © SAFIN HAMED / AFP
ISIS considered the Yazidis as heretics and massacred thousands of Yazidi men, enlisted children, and kidnapped thousands of women © SAFIN HAMED / AFP
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‘Dead or Alive’: Iraq’s Yazidis Anxiously Await ISIS-abducted Relatives

ISIS considered the Yazidis as heretics and massacred thousands of Yazidi men, enlisted children, and kidnapped thousands of women © SAFIN HAMED / AFP
ISIS considered the Yazidis as heretics and massacred thousands of Yazidi men, enlisted children, and kidnapped thousands of women © SAFIN HAMED / AFP

After paying nearly $100,000 in ransoms to free 10 family members, Khaled Taalou, a member of Iraq's Yazidi minority, is still working to free other missing relatives kidnapped by ISIS group fighters.

Despite his efforts, five more relatives, along with thousands of other Yazidis, remain missing after being abducted by the militants.

"We are still looking. We do not lose hope," the 49-year-old said.

In August 2014, ISIS swept over Mount Sinjar, the Kurdish-speaking minority's historic home in northern Iraq. They massacred thousands of Yazidi men, enlisted children, and seized thousands of women to be sold as militants' "wives" or reduced to sexual slavery.

ISIS considered the Yazidis, who follow a non-Muslim monotheistic faith, as heretics.

UN investigators described as genocide the atrocities carried out by ISIS.

Nineteen members of Taalou's family were abducted, including his brother and sister, along with their spouses and children.

"We borrowed money as we could, here and there, to get them out," the journalist and writer said.

Now displaced and living in Sharya, a village in Iraqi Kurdistan, after fleeing his home in Sinjar, Taalou has managed to free 10 relatives over seven years.

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Arab World

Yemen Accuses Iran’s Revolutionary Guard of Managing Houthi Military, Security Units

The Houthis exploited the war in Gaza to recruit tens of thousands of fighters (AFP)
The Houthis exploited the war in Gaza to recruit tens of thousands of fighters (AFP)
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Yemen Accuses Iran’s Revolutionary Guard of Managing Houthi Military, Security Units

The Houthis exploited the war in Gaza to recruit tens of thousands of fighters (AFP)
The Houthis exploited the war in Gaza to recruit tens of thousands of fighters (AFP)

Sources familiar with the situation in the Houthi-run Yemeni capital, Sanaa, report that Iranian Revolutionary Guard representatives have strengthened their control over all Houthi military and intelligence units, now exercising authority over all decisions.
Concurrently, they are forming sectarian-aligned combat units similar to those found in Iran.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat under conditions of anonymity, the sources clarified that recent arrest operations by Houthis were supervised by Revolutionary Guard elements.
The recent wave of arrests targeted numerous UN and international humanitarian staff, along with former US embassy employees.
It also marked the first time that members from the Houthi group itself were included.
Sources indicate a purge within Houthi intelligence, known as the “Security and Intelligence Apparatus,” and the internal “Preventive Security,” aiming to remove disloyal or ideologically questionable individuals from key administrative, security, and military positions, even within the Houthi ranks.
During the takeover of Sanaa, Houthis enlisted non-ideological personnel who had previously worked in government institutions or local and international organizations.
However, sources confirm that their role is now obsolete.
According to sources, some Houthi members who had served the insurgency for years are now being excluded.
Reasons cited include not being from Saada province or being deemed disloyal to Abdul-Malik al-Houthi’s leadership or suspicious of their sectarian beliefs.
Yemeni sources also revealed that Iranian Revolutionary Guard units, who previously controlled military operations, especially regarding ballistic missiles and drone production facilities, have recently expanded their influence to dominate the entire Houthi security scene.
These units allegedly exploited the Israeli conflict in Gaza to instruct the Houthis to recruit thousands of teenagers from summer camps and sectarian schools, along with graduates of cultural programs.
They were misled into believing they were being trained to fight in Palestine.
According to sources, the purpose of this operation is to create military units modeled after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. These units would swear absolute loyalty to the Houthi leader, viewing him as the chosen ruler by divine mandate.