Old video of Yezidi women rescued from an ISIS camp shared as Indian women

The viral video shows Yezidi women being rescued from an ISIS camp in Syria by the Women’s Protection Unit of the Syrian Democratic Forces

A video showing military personnel rescuing some women who are chained in what appears to be a camp is going viral on social media. In the viral video, users are claiming that the UN (United Nations) Army has rescued 38 Indian women from ISIS tents who were kept there as sex slaves. Apart from this, users have linked the video to the events shown in the film ‘Kerala Story’.

The caption of the post states, “The UN Army stormed an ISIS base and rescued 38 girls from India, enslaved for sex. Look at the way the girls had been chained, to be used at will.

For those who claim that *The Kerala Story* is pure fiction, this is proof that it’s pure fact”.

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Fact Check- 

We started the investigation with a reverse image search on Google and the results led us to a report published on a website called ANF News on September 2022, which carried similar visuals as the viral video. It states YPJ uploaded a video which documented the rescue of four women who were chained up inside a tent in the Al-Hol camp. The operation was the second phase of the “Humanitarian Security Operation” launched against the terrorist attacks. It was coordinated by the units of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) along with Asayish Command and the YPG.

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Upon further search, we found a viral video on a YouTube channel called SDF Press . It was uploaded on 6 September 2022.The red logo seen in the YouTube channel’s video can also be seen in the viral video. We translated the words written in the channel title on Google. Which means – YPJ video of freeing four women held captive in Al-Hol camp.

What is YPJ 

According to information published in the ‘Kurdish Project’ , YPJ is a unit of women’s protection in Kurdistan. The army is a female brigade of the Kurdistan Region’s armed forces that has played a key role in the fight to regain control of Kobani on the Turkey-Syria border from ISIS.

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Al-Hol is a refugee camp in northern Syria. The camp was established in 1991. After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, it was reopened along the Iraq-Syria border. The camp is mainly controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The majority of the population in the camp consists of women and children.

A further keyword search led us to a Twitter thread made by YPJ on September 5, 2022, which carried a shorter video of the rescue operation. 

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The fourth tweet in the thread mentions that the rescued women belonged to the Yazidi community, a Kurdish religious minority found primarily in northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, the Caucasus region, and parts of Iran. They hailed from Shengal town, and had been kidnapped at a young age. After being rescued, they were provided with psychological support.

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The video is from 2022 and the women who were rescued by the YPJ forces from the Al-Hol camp were Yazidis, not Indians.

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. The viral video shows Yezidi women being rescued from an ISIS camp in Syria by the Women’s Protection Unit (YPJ)of the Syrian Democratic Forces, not Indian women. It dates back to September 2022.