A Yazidi child. (Photo: Yezidi Human Rights Organi- zation--International.)

A Yazidi mother and one of her sons who survived the Islamic State’s attack on Sinjar and surrounding villages in northern Iraq in August 2014, said that ISIS “shot and killed” many people, kidnapped young girls for sex, filmed the abuse and texted it to the girls’ families, and even “beheaded children with axes.”

The mother also disclosed that her husband “felt so helpless” that he committed suicide and that two of her sons, in shock and anguish, “painted their faces” with their dead father’s blood.

In the video by Dr. Hawar Moradi, who worked with the Yazidis in the fall of 2014, and which is posted on the website of Yezidi Human Rights Organization – International, the mother explains what happened as the Yazidi men started to run out of ammunition while defending their community from ISIS.

“After that the ammunition was finished," the mother said. "We had to flee. Many didn’t have a car and as they fled on feet they were shot and killed. Many people were killed.”

“They [ISIS] took by force women and girls,” she said. “They cut off the head of the children. They caused us unbearable suffering. May God punish them. He [the woman’s husband] was a soldier and had a Kalashnikov [rifle].”

“They called and told us that they [ISIS] had abducted our girls,” said the mother. “People were talking about children dying of thirst, hunger, and being beheaded by ISIS. They abused our girls and women. They filmed while abusing our girls and women and sent it to our phones.”

“They tied their hands and led them away in cars,” she said. “They beheaded children with axes.”

She then explained that her husband had been 40 years old. “He felt so helpless and angry,” she said, that “he shot himself to death.”

One of her sons, in the video, then said, “We [Yazidis] were all alone. Arabs were all around us. Shingal [Sinjar] was alone and surrounded all around by Arabs. Daesh [ISIS] was on the hunt for the Yazidis. They came and surrounded us.”

Some of the Yazidis who fled into the Sinjar mountains to escape ISIS in August 2014. (Yezidi Human Rights Organization International.)

“My father committed suicide because he felt helpless,” said the boy. “I and my brother touched his blood with our hands and painted our faces with it.”

The mother then said, “Both of them put their hands in his blood and painted their faces with it.”

Dr. Hawar Moradi is a medical doctor who earned his degree from the University of Warsaw. He specializes in psychiatry and has worked at refugee camps throughout Kurdistan.

The Yezidi Human Rights Organization – Internatitonal, was founded by Mirza Ismail. He testified before the U.S. Congress about the Islamic State’s genocidal actions against the Yazidis in December 2015.