He Escaped ISIS, Now He Warns Returning ‘Brides’ and Children Can’t Assimilate

A Yazidi-Australian says his village trekked through mountain terrain under the cover of darkness to escape ISIS.

Yazidi-Australian Ayman Abas in Armidale in 2023. Courtesy of Ayman Abas

Australians remember 2014 as the year terrorism struck the heart of Sydney, when an ISIS-inspired gunman seized the Lindt Cafe and left two people dead.

About 13,000 kilometres away, the now-Australian citizen Ayman Abas, was confronting his own nightmare scenario—fleeing for life under the cover of darkness from ISIS.