The young children of an Islamic State fighter were abandoned in Syria after his death. But with the help of human rights lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith and reporter Joshua Surtees , the boys have been reunited with their mother. Also today: columnist Gary Younge on the storm over Liam Neeson’s race comments

In 2014, Mahmud and Ayyub Ferreira were abducted by their father in Trinidad and taken to Syria to live under Islamic State rule in the so-called caliphate. After the death of their father and the liberation of the Isis stronghold of Raqqa, the boys, now aged 11 and seven, were abandoned before being picked up and taken into Kurdish custody.

Mahmud and Ayyub had been apart from their mother for four years but a combined effort from the human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, Guardian reporters, including Joshua Surtees, and the Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters tracked down Felicia Perkins-Ferreira in Trinidad and reunited the family.

After the military defeat of Isis in Syria, there are believed to be about 1,200 more children like Mahmud and Ayyub stuck in a legal limbo in the country.

Also today, the Guardian columnist Gary Younge on the extraordinary comments from the actor Liam Neeson on race and revenge.