Small Wars Journal

The Orphans Left Behind by the Islamic State

Thu, 10/18/2018 - 12:27am

The Orphans Left Behind by the Islamic State by Olivier Laurent and Tamer El-Ghobashy – Washington Post

Since declaring victory over the Islamic State late last year, Iraq has grappled with a host of issues emanating from the drawn-out war to uproot the militant group: billions of dollars in damage to cities and towns, more than a million people still displaced and millions more struggling to rebuild their lives.

But there is also other, less visible trauma resulting from the battles. In orphanages in Baghdad and Mosul, which was the Islamic State’s capital in Iraq, children born to both foreign and local fighters are learning to cope with abandonment and reentry into a society they can hardly understand.

These vulnerable victims, photographed by Maya Alleruzzo of the Associated Press, come from wrenching backgrounds: Some were brought to Iraq from Europe and Asia by parents eager to join the Islamic State and have since died. Others were local children simply left behind. Some were the products of rape, an atrocity frequently committed by Islamic State fighters…

Read on.