<p>A mother and son were reunited after being separated while fleeing the Islamic State’s grip in Mosul, Iraq.</p><p>Mohammed Mowaffaq was only a young boy when he was forced to flee his home. “Our life was good [in Mosul] until they came from nowhere and war started. We used to go to school but they destroyed even that,” said Mohammed in this UNICEF video.</p><p>“I tried to escape four times but got caught. The last time we tried to escape they caught us. They held a knife to my throat and we couldn’t escape.”</p><p>But his mother, Wathha Hadifah, worried for her son in the besieged city and believed it was time for Mohammed to flee their Tanak neighborhood.</p><p>“I sent Mohammed ahead of me because the last time he was caught… you know what happened… no need for me to explain,” said Wathha.</p><p>The Mowaffaq family was all too aware of the stakes. Mohammed’s father, a driver, was killed three years earlier after being suspected of smuggling people out of Mosul.</p><p>Mohammed successfully escaped with his cousin, but not until after shepherds spotted the two and fired mortars at them.</p><p>Three months later, his mother was able to flee with the rest of her young family while barefoot and in the cold – but Wathha had no idea if her son made it out alive. This is a common occurrence in war-torn Iraq. Since 2014, more than 4,650 children have become separated or are unaccompanied by their families in Iraq, according to UNICEF.</p><p>The family was later reunited by UNICEF (which made this video). “When I saw my mother I was so happy. I hugged her and started to cry,” said Mohammed.</p><p>Wathha said she does not plan to return to Mosul.</p><p>“I will never go back after what I’ve experienced. My family were dying in front of me. They were starving to death. I can’t go back.” Credit: UNICEF Iraq via Storyful</p><br />
