Iraq

Jeelan, 11, the day after being rescued from an ISIS family who had held her captive for the past two years. She says she doesn't remember her Yazidi family. "I want to go back to Um Ali," she says, referring to the Iraqi woman who had been pretending to

World News

'I Want To Go Back': The Yazidi Girls Who Did Not Want To Be Rescued From ISIS

12:56pm June 19, 2019

by Jane Arraf

The girls, ages 10 and 11, were held captive for years and remember nothing of their Yazidi heritage. They miss the ISIS woman who looked after them and tell rescuers they want to return to her.

Caregiver Fajriya Khaled holds a child at an orphanage in northeastern Syria, home to 41 children of Yazidi mothers and ISIS fathers. The Yazidi community in Iraq forces the women to leave their children behind if they want to return home.

World News

In Syria, An Orphanage Cares For Children Born To Yazidi Mothers Enslaved By ISIS

2:54pm June 06, 2019

by Jane Arraf

Because their fathers were ISIS fighters, the Yazidi community rejects the children and forces their mothers to give them up. Some willingly do so, but others are desperate for news of their children.

World News

France Won't Take ISIS Fighters Back, But Doesn't Want Them Executed Either

5:18pm May 27, 2019

by Jane Arraf

France doesn't want to bring back French ISIS members captured in Iraq, but French authorities are dismayed that an Iraqi court has sentenced four of them to death.

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The State Department ordered "non-emergency" U.S. government employees out of Iraq on Wednesday. A helicopter carrying U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is seen taking off from Baghdad International Airport last week.

State Department Orders Nonessential U.S. Government Employees Out Of Iraq

8:50am May 15, 2019

by Laurel Wamsley

The travel advisory ordered the departure of employees at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Irbil. It was not immediately clear what led to the order.

Ibrahim, 2, in northeastern Syria a few hours after his freed Yazidi mother returned to Iraq without him. Ibrahim's father was an ISIS fighter. Although his mother wanted to take him home, the Yazidis do not allow children of ISIS fathers to live with the

World News

Freed By ISIS, Yazidi Mothers Face Wrenching Choice: Abandon Kids Or Never Go Home

9:35pm May 09, 2019

by Jane Arraf

Women kidnapped by ISIS five years ago are now being freed. But the Yazidi community does not allow children born in captivity of militant fathers to return with them.

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Women carry children near the al-Hol camp in Syria's Kurdish-majority region of Rojava. The camp is filled with more than 72,000 people — most of them women and children who came out of the last ISIS-held territory.

World News

'We Pray For The Caliphate To Return': ISIS Families Crowd Into Syrian Camps

4:43pm April 24, 2019

by Jane Arraf

"The women and children who have been raised on the mentality of ISIS and terrorism need to be rehabilitated," an official warns. "Otherwise, they will be the foundations of future terrorism."

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U.S.-backed fighters stand guard on a building during shelling of the Islamic State's last holdout in the town of Baghouz, Syria, on March 3.

Analysis: The End Of The 'Caliphate' Doesn't Mean The End Of ISIS

3:45pm March 22, 2019

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Friday that ISIS' territorial caliphate has been eliminated in Syria. Even so, its threats remain.

Search and rescue operations near the Iraqi city of Mosul were underway after a boat sank in the Tigris River on Thursday. Authorities say dozens of people, including many children, are confirmed dead.

Boat Sinks In Iraq, Killing At Least 100 During New Year Celebration

6:27pm March 21, 2019

by Sasha Ingber

The casualties included many children, as a vessel carrying Nowruz holiday revelers capsized in the Tigris River. Authorities said the boat appeared not to have had life vests on board.

Mazen (right), 13, and his brother Mezban in a camp for displaced Yazidis in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Mazen was freed recently, five years after being kidnapped by ISIS. He was found in Baghouz, the last ISIS stronghold in Syria. His brother was also

World News

Freed From ISIS, Few Yazidis Return To Suffering Families, Many Remain Missing

9:59pm March 14, 2019

by Jane Arraf

As ISIS loses territory and captives are rescued, broken Yazidi families hold out hope that their loved ones could still return.

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Mickey Willenbring tends to one of her Navajo-Churro sheep at Dot Ranch in Scio, Ore.

National

After Combat, A Veteran Finds Solace In Sheep Farming

8:55am March 01, 2019

Army veteran Sgt. Mickey Willenbring was injured while serving in Iraq and also developed PTSD. Running a Navajo-Churro sheep farm has helped her cope with the lingering trauma of combat.

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