In August of 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria launched an attack on the Yazidi population in the Sinjar district of Northern Iraq. Yazidis are one of Iraq's oldest religious minorities, living in the border areas close to Turkey and Syria. Before 2014, there were an estimated half a million Yazidis. During the August 2014 siege, over 5,000 Yazidis were killed or went missing in and around the Sinjar area, in an ISIS sanctioned campaign to cleanse the population of what they called devil worshippers. Roughly the same number were abducted and enslaved to ISIS fighters. Figures vary widely, but it is believed that up to 3,000 people, mostly women, and some children, are still currently being held in captivity. ISIS systematically sought to enslave Yazidi women with their children, and are passed around through the slave market, with virgin girls fetching higher prices. Stories from escapees have detailed how women were bought, sold, raped, and forcibly married to ISIS fighters. Hundreds of women remain missing despite the fall of Raqqa in October 2017.
