Following the extended siege of Raqqa and its final fall last week, there has been an influx of refugees trying to escape Syria and some of these people fall into the category that can only be described as ISIS wives. Many of their husbands had been killed during the fighting and they were eager to return to their home countries – many had travelled to Syria in order to marry into the organisation.
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Arabic television channel journalist Jenna Moussa took the opportunity to interview some of these wives and find out what conditions they had experienced and how they had spent the last few years in the Islamic caliphate. You might be fairly surprised by what she says here:
1- #BREAK North of Raqqa, I met Lebanese wife of Tunisian ISIS fighter. Tried to flee Raqqa to Turkey. Caught by Kurds. Now in refugee camp. https://t.co/lBfd64DHow
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
2- Give me a sec and I'll explain in English in couple of tweets what the Lebanese wife of the Tunisian ISIS fighter told me.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
3- North of Raqqa I met 7wives (Lebanese, Tunisian, Dagestan, Syrian) of foreign ISIS fighters (French, Malaysian, Tunisian, Turk) @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
4- I also saw this Indonesian ISIS family who traveled to Raqqa to join ISIS. Refused to talk to me, claiming "we are victims of ISIS." pic.twitter.com/Wv7Y2z0uIS
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
5- When Syrian refugees from Raqqa heard Indonesian ISIS family saying "we are victims of ISIS", women refugees almost wanted 2beat them up.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
6- The Raqqa women wanted to beat up Indonesian ISIS family, shouting: What r u doing in our county? U r responsible for our misery. @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
7- For safety reasons ISIS families in camp north of Raqqa r kept by SDF in separate corner bcz Raqqa refugees want to beat ISIS people.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
8- Indonesia women told me: "ISIS deceived us with propaganda." I said: "So u saw beheading vids &thought: Great, lets join ISIS?" No reply.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
9- Important to note these foreign ISIS families DIDN'T surrender to SDF but tried 2sneak from Raqqa to Turkey &were caught by SDF. @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
10- After ISIS families from Raqqa r caught by SDF, they are interrogated &either put in prison or in special part of refugee camp. @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
11- I guess eventually their embassies will try to get these ISIS people back home. Or maybe let them stay in camp. I dont know. @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
12- Back to the Lebanese wife of an ISIS fighter in my interview above, her name is Nour AlHoda. She says she totally regrets joining ISIS.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
13- She explained how ISIS locked women up in guest houses in Raqqa. Said her kids got sick, they didn't let her take them to hospital.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
14- Off camera I asked her if she had "Sabaya", female slaves. She said no but knew of 9yr old slave who was raped, needed medic afterwards.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
15- All these ISIS wives that I met (my full report out tomorrow) want to go home. They say they regret joining ISIS. Can't tell if sincere.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
16- To be honest with u, when I was interviewing ISIS wives I couldnt help but wonder how they would've treated me if I were caught by ISIS.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
17- As u know, I work for Arabic @akhbar TV. When I read comments on my vids, I'm terrified by how many ppl wish I am taken slave by ISIS.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
18- So I'm obsessed with the topic. I asked these ISIS wives, did u help any slave to escape ISIS? They said some wives did out of jealousy.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
19- I was shocked when I heard this answer. Wives of ISIS fighters didn't help Yazidi slaves to escape bcz they were raped day & night.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
20- Some ISIS wives allowed slaves to flee bcz they were jealous their husbands slept more with the slaves. Not bcz they wanted 2 help them.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
21- This is me sitting with the wives & kids of ISIS fighters. I'll share more details with you tomorrow after my report is aired. @akhbar pic.twitter.com/EKlRPrzeic
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/jenanmoussa/status/879395478785359872
2/ I met 7 ISIS housewives. U have to understand they all believe in idea of Islamic State. But they now claim that ISIS isn't the real one.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
3/ None of ISIS women of foreign fighters from Raqqa who I interviewed were forced to talk to me. Some refused &this was respected. @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
4/ Also there were no armed men or ppl from refugee camp present during interview. Considering circumstances, situation was relaxed. @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
5/ Sorry guys, my internet got disconnected. I have a very slow net here in #Syria so bear with me. Now I am back. @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
6/ ISIS wives totally self-centered. Only complains about lack of internet, food, water etc in Raqqa, nothing about IS brutality 2 others.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
7/ They never criticize ISIS beheadings, killings or ISIS being responsible 4 destruction of Raqqa. Only same mantra: We didnt do anything.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
8/ One of ISIS women married to a French/Moroccan fighter said chopping hands of criminals was okay because person was warned twice before.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
9/ 1women had friend who dreamed of marrying ISIS chief. She refused all proposals from foreign fighter saying: Only Baghdadi satisfies me.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
10/ But other ISIS women told the Baghdadi groupie: Don't bother he is already taken: he has 4 wives &15 (sex) slaves. You have no chance.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
11/ Although difficult to grasp thought process of ISIS wives, I felt sorry for children. Kids w/ such irresponsible parents r real victims.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
12/ Lebanese ISIS wife said: There were 100+ Lebanese with ISIS in Raqqa. She often met family or neighbors from Lebanon in Raqqa streets.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
13/ It looked to me the ISIS wives regretted having joined ISIS bcz Caliphate went bust. Now they want to pick up their lives &move on.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
14/ Anyhow these ISIS wives are in limbo now. Stuck in camp in N-Syria, husbands in jail. ISIS wives now want help from their embassies.
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) June 26, 2017
Well yeah, I didn’t really expect them to be like that at all – more that they would have just been scared into marrying their husbands and living in fear. Seems like they all chose to join ISIS of their own free will and kind of enjoyed it whilst they were experiencing it until it all turned to shit.
There’s a bit more that wasn’t included in these tweets from Jenan too:
Our husbands would spend money on lipsticks for sex slaves seized from the Yazidi community in northern Iraq.
There was a lot of tension between the wives and the sex slaves.
Some of the wives even divorced their husbands because of that. They were spending too much on the sex slaves, buying them the best make-up, clothes and accessories.
My husband had a ‘sex-slave app’ on his phone, which allowed users to share photos of the women along with prices such as $2,000 and $3,000. A virgin could be sold for $10,000.
Sounds like a really happy and productive marriage. Oh wait – they both sound like complete dickheads. You’ve really got to have a screw loose to travel over to another country on a whim to join ISIS and be a wife though, so I guess these women got what they deserved really. Hope it works out for them now their husbands are dead and ISIS is on its last legs, but I’m not too confident really.
For more on polygamy, check out the Lord Of The Wives – a dude who shares his house happily with three women. Crazy.