Yazidi children 'used as human shields' under so-called Islamic State rule speak to ITV News about difficult days ahead

• Video report by ITV News Security Editor Rohit Kachroo

Yazidi children who have escaped five years in captivity under so-called Islamic State are now having to face the long and difficult road to recovery in north east Syria.

ITV News met with several of the young genocide survivors as the Isis caliphate faces its end.

Explaining the darker times the children have faced, Syrian Yazidi activist Mahmoud Rasho said: “They were used as human shields.

"They (Isis) put them on the frontline so the coalition fighter jets and YPG fighters would not attack."

As a religious minority, the Yazidi people endured horrific attacks as Islamic State militants swept through Iraq and Syria.

In 2014, tens of thousands fled to the Sinjar mountains, northern Iraq, in an attempt to escape Isis.

While Yazidi women were captured and used as sex slaves, families and children were torn apart.

During the escape to the mountains, 11-year-old Saddam was separated from his mother.

She fled to Canada while he was forced to live under Islamic State rule for five years.

Speaking to ITV News about the separation he said he missed his mother and was desperate to see her.

During the conversation ITV News Security Editor Rohit Kachroo filmed a message from Saddam to his mother.

Moments after the message was filmed Saddam's mother called, excited to make contact.

She told ITV News: "Talking to him now and seeing him on the phone gives me the same feeling as when I gave birth to him.

"I don’t have the words to describe this moment."

However, not all Yazidi children have shared the same happy experience.

Some were unable to speak to their parents on the phone.

For them the days ahead are still riddled with hurdles.