ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — No news on the fate of her kidnapped brother and nephew has haunted Sara Ahmed and her family. Now she is hopeful that with the demise of ISIS, their whereabouts will be discovered.
A brother and father with 35 others were kidnapped by ISIS in Manbij, Syria, more than four years ago.
"On September 7, 2014, they were kidnapped. They were a total of 37 persons. It was because they were Kurds. We do not know any news from them since then," said Mohammed Khalil Ahmed, the son of the missing Khalil Ahmed.
Ahmed Saeed is the brother of Khalil Ahmed.
"We are sick. Our thoughts are always with them. We want them freed. We are desperate for good news to come out on them. We would like to hear good news about them from our relatives, friends and organizations," said Sara Ahmed.
Younger family members have only seen photos of their relatives. Others say Ahmed was ill at the time of his abduction.
"He fled the oppression of the Syrian regime, he defected from the military..." explained Yahya Saeed, Ahmed's brother.
The regime of Bashar al-Assad has called on men of fighting age to enlist in the Syrian Arab Army. Many who don’t have been imprisoned.
They claim they were targeted by ISIS because they were Kurds.
As ISIS is facing its last days east of the Euphrates in al-Baghouz, Syria, people are hopeful the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) backed by the internationals can help to locate their loved ones.
"We are calling on all organizations, forces fighting [ISIS] on the ground. Those emirs who have been captured by Americans have information on them. We just want to know how their situation is, are they dead or alive, where are they. This is our call," Saeed added.
The United Nations estimates that around half of all Syrians have been displaced at some time or another during the ISIS conflict that is entering its eighth year.
The Kurdistan Region has hosted 200,000 Syrian refugees. Ninety-eight percent of Syrian refugees who fled to Iraq went to the Kurdistan Region.
Reporting by Rangin Shero