In Iraq, ISIS orphans abandoned to their fate
In refugee camps and in remote villages, these children of ISIS fighters who were killed or imprisoned are growing up far from public view. In a society still reeling from 20 years of war, where the Iraqi government is eager to move past the era of ISIS, reintegrating them is proving to be more difficult than ever, 10 years after the proclamation of a caliphate across Iraq by the Islamic State.
Inside the Hassan Sham camp in Iraqi Kurdistan, 70-year-old Ghasal Saha is raising her 20 grandchildren, the sons and daughters of her eight sons—all of whom were ISIS fighters killed in Mosul or imprisoned. For these children, particularly teenage boys, returning to their villages often means risking assassination as retribution for their father’s crimes. Like many children born in areas once controlled by ISIS, Ghazal Saha’s grandchildren lack identity papers, and those born before 2014 lost theirs amid the chaos following the Battle of Mosul.
Iraqi society remains divided on the fate of these children, who are alternately seen as victims or potential threats. In Baghdad, three of them are still being raised behind the brightly painted walls of one such facility. These orphans are the sons of foreign fighters from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkey, born in Iraq during ISIS’s caliphate. War, violence, and deprivation have left deep, indelible scars. « Post-traumatic stress, depression, isolation, aggression, anger... » lists Sheyma Khaled Arif, the director of the orphanage.
