ERBIL — Ten years after being abducted by Islamic State (IS) militants, Yazidi woman Silvana Khider, 27, has reunited with her family in Iraq. 

Khider’s return marks the end of a decade-long ordeal that began with her abduction as a teenager and took her across war-torn Syria during the rise and fall of IS and the Assad regime. “I am very happy, but also very sad. My father and two of my brothers are dead. My mother and another brother are missing. And I have four sisters in Europe,” Khider said, describing her mixed emotions.  

In 2014, IS launched a genocidal campaign against the Yazidis in Sinjar province, murdering thousands of men and enslaving thousands of women and girls. Khider, then 17, was taken from her village and sold in markets as a forced bride.

She endured years of captivity, being moved from Sinjar to Tal Afar, then to IS’s self-declared capital, Raqqa, before ending up in Baghouz, the group’s final stronghold. Khider lost all contact with her family, who assumed she was dead. “They thought I was dead. They even laid a tomb for me,” she said.  

Following IS’s territorial defeat in 2019, Khider spent more than four years in Syria’s Idlib province, controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Those years were marked by hunger, fear, and airstrikes. She lived alone in a basement and received some assistance from locals, including a mosque sheik.  

With the help of the Kidnapped Yazidi Rescue Office, Khider began her journey home during the final days of the Assad regime. Her trek took five days, starting in Manbij and passing through Raqqa, Hasake, and Amuda before finally crossing into Iraq.  

Her sister, Muluka Khider, also a survivor of IS captivity, recalled the moment she learned her sister was alive. “A few days later, I spoke with her by phone. It was a great joy,” Muluka said.  

The Yazidi community continues to grapple with the trauma of IS’s campaign. Of the 6,416 Yazidis abducted, over 3,500 have been rescued in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, while more than 2,600 remain missing, according to UN data.  

For Silvana Khider, the reunion with her family marks a bittersweet closure to years of suffering. However, the fate of her mother and another brother remains unknown. “We don’t know what happened to them. But I don’t think they survived,” Muluka said.