ISIS

Women kidnapped by ISIS five years ago are now being freed. But the Yazidi community does not allow children born in captivity of militant fathers to return with them.

"America sees this as an existential fight," writes former CIA analyst Aki Peritz, who argues in this case, the classic insurgent strategy of bleeding a better-resourced adversary is doomed to fail.

The man who is purportedly Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi acknowledges the recent major defeat of ISIS in Baghouz, Syria.

"The women and children who have been raised on the mentality of ISIS and terrorism need to be rehabilitated," an official warns. "Otherwise, they will be the foundations of future terrorism."

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Friday that ISIS' territorial caliphate has been eliminated in Syria. Even so, its threats remain.

"This is not a victory announcement," the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces say, even as they celebrate a breakthrough in a battle in Syria's Euphrates River Valley.

As ISIS loses territory and captives are rescued, broken Yazidi families hold out hope that their loved ones could still return.

Shamima Begum, who was 15 when she fled to Syria in 2015, had been begging to return to the U.K. prior to her son's birth last month, saying she feared for his health. He died of pneumonia.

A judge ruled there isn't sufficient evidence proving Hoda Muthana and her toddler face imminent harm in Syria. It's a setback for the ISIS bride who hoped to fight her citizenship claim from the U.S.

Hoda Muthana was 20 when she moved to Syria and started posting ISIS propaganda online. She says she has renounced the group and wants to return home, but the Trump administration refuses to allow it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's amendment opposing a "precipitous withdrawal" from Syria was backed by many GOP senators who disagree with the president's foreign policy.

After four years in Syria, two brothers returned home to Trinidad this week, following an extraordinary intervention by their mother, a renowned human rights lawyer and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd.