Video of Yazidi women rescued by Syrian forces viral with false claims that they’re Hindus from India, Bangladesh

A video is viral on social media with the claim that the UN (United Nations) Army has rescued 38 women from ISIS tents, who were kept there as sex slaves by the terror group. It is also claimed that these women are from India and Bangladesh, and a majority of them are Hindu. Some social media users related the development to the film ‘The Kerala Story’ and said the claims made in the movie thus stood vindicated.

Several users shared the said video where one can see a few women dressed in the Army-style camouflage uniform entering a tent, where they find two girls chained. They go on to unchain the girls and check if they are hurt.

Twitter Blue user Anamika Singh shared the above-mentioned video on May 26 with the following caption: “UN Army attacks ISIS tent, army and rescues 38 sex enslaved women from India and Bangladesh – majority Hindu girls. For those who don’t believe *The Kerala Story* film, this is the proof. Look at the way the girls have been chained”. The tweet has received about 8,000 views. (Archive)

UN Army attacks ISIS tent, army and rescues 38 sex enslaved women from India and Bangladesh – majority Hindu girls.

For those who don’t believe *The Kerala Story* film, this is the proof. Look at the way the girls have been chained pic.twitter.com/hkbHiN0iI2

— Anamika Singh (@AnamikasinghIN) May 26, 2023

Jitendra Singh, who, according to his Facebook bio, is a digital creator, posted the same video on May 25 with the same caption. The post has been reshared over 200 times.

Another Twitter user, @CBShukla3, also shared the video on May 25 with a similar claim. (Archive)

UN Army attacks ISIS tent, army and rescues 38 sex enslaved women from India and Bangladesh – majority Hindu girls.

For those who don’t believe *The Kerala Story* film, this is the proof. Look at the way the girls have been chained pic.twitter.com/tVxlfYJ7F5

— C. B. Shukla (@CBShukla3) May 25, 2023

Several other users shared the clip with similar captions on Twitter and Facebook. Some can be found below:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Fact Check

On first look, we noticed a logo in the viral video frame. It consisted of a red star and the text: ‘YPJ NAVENDA RAGIHANDINE’. A keyword search led us to the website ‘The Kurdish Project‘, according to which, YPJ is an acronym for ‘Women’s Protection Units’ in Kurdish. It is an all-female brigade of the armed forces of the Syrian region of Kurdistan, which has been instrumental in the process of taking back control of the Kurdish town, Kobani, on the Turkish-Syrian border, from the ISIS.

Next, we broke down the video into several key-frames and ran a reverse image search on a few of them. This led us to a report by SDF press centre from September 6, 2022. SDF stands for the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of about 55,000 fighters fighting Islamic State with U.S. support.

The headline of the report said, “Video-The YPJ Liberates Four Women Imprisoned In The Al-Hol Camp”. The Al-Hol is a refugee camp in northern Syria. Originally set up in 1991, the camp was reopened when anti-ISIS operations began in Iraq, sending hordes of civilians across the border into Syria. Majority of the population in the camp are women and children.

The report also carried a 7.28-minute video which can be found on the SDF press centre’s YouTube channel. The viral clip starts at the 0:21 mark of the YouTube video.

We also found the above video on YPJ’s YouTube channel YPJ MEDIA CENTER posted on September 5, 2022. The title said in Kurdish: “YPJ and Internal Security Forces rescued 4 women who were held captive by Daesh gangs. #YPJ”.

A further keyword search led us to a Twitter thread made by YPJ on September 5, 2022, which carried a shorter vedio (1.54-minute long) of the rescue operation. (Archive)

In this video you will see how #YPJ forces liberate women in the ongoing campaign against #ISIS cells in al-#Hol camp.

It shows 3 women that where found in a tent, where ISIS women had put their legs in chains. Their bodies showed marks of torture.#Syria #Daesh #SDF #YPG pic.twitter.com/7W2kWOHcYy

— YPJ Information (@YPJ_Info) September 5, 2022

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 (alternatively spelt as Shingal or Sinjar) town, and had been kidnapped at a young age. After being rescued, they were provided with psychological support.

It is relevant to add that the Al-Hol camp houses some ISIS women. They have been in the camp since the defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and the fall of its self-proclaimed caliphate in March 2019.

Therefore, the claim that the video shows women from India and Bangladesh being rescued from ISIS tents is false. The video is from 2022 and the women who were rescued by the YPJ forces from the Al-Hol camp were Yazidis, not Indian or Bangladeshi.