TNF safe house number#1 holds 7 women who were kidnapped by ISIS and their children. They were raped by their captors and forced into marrying fighters. With them are their 15 children who are the offspring of the ISIS fighters. The families of the women and their community have completely rejected the children, and threatened to kill them with their mothers if they ever are reunited. 6 of the 7 women are currently living in the safe house, while the 7th is still living with her parents. Her son remains at the safe house with the other children.
The women were sent to the Al Hol refugee camp right after the battle of Baghuz Fawqani where ISIS forces were annihilated. Later on, they were rescued by Kurdish forces and sent into other refugee camps where they were reunited with their families. Fearing for their lives and that of their children, the women didn’t speak at first about their offspring which they had in captivity. Within a year, the women began telling their councilor about their children, but as soon as their parents found out, the women were detained in their homes.
The councilor who is a close friend of TNF, reported the news to the organization. Shortly afterwards, a TNF team began searching for the children in orphanages. The operatives managed to locate them and began retrieving them one after the other to the safe house. Simultaneously, a second TNF team was discreetly rescuing the detained mothers from their families’ homes. Eventually, the women and their children were reunited at the safe house. They will remain under the care and protection of TNF until they are relocated overseas. Both the mothers and their children are still in grave danger from their families and communities who have threatened to kill them.