Iraqi Yazidi couple remarry after nine years of separation by ISIS

Years in the brutal captivity of the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group did not dim the love between a Yazidi couple who renewed their wedding vows in Duhok on June 16 after nearly nine long years of separation.

Samia Smo and Dakhil Hassan had been married for just one month when ISIS seized Shingal in August 2014 and committed genocide against the minority community. The militants enslaved Smo, taking her first to Mosul and then to Syria, the Kurdish website Rudaw reported on June 17.

Earlier this month, Smo and five other Yazidi women who were also held captive by ISIS militants, were reunited with their families. The news was announced by Nobel peace laureate Nadia Murad who credited Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani with assisting in the rescue that gives hope to the families of thousands of Yazidi women and children who are still missing.

The couple’s families decided to celebrate their reunion with a wedding.

“This is just like a dream,” Smo told Rudaw’s Haidar Doski, wearing a white dress, gold jewellery around her neck and a tiara on her head. “I can’t believe it. I feel like I’m in a dream. I’m very happy.”

Smo and Hassan tattooed each other's names on their hands as a sign of their eternal love.

“I have always waited for the day my wife comes back,” Hassan said, trying to contain his jubilation. “I’m very happy.”

Hundreds of guests attended the wedding, including the families of the five other women who were rescued with Smo.

Around 2,700 women and children seized by ISIS are still missing. Many of them were brought by their captives when they went to Syria after ISIS’ defeat in Iraq. Some women have been found in northeast Syria’s al-Hol camp, among the families of ISIS fighters and supporters.