Mother reveals how ISIS thugs pulled out clumps of her 18-month-old son’s hair to amuse themselves in Mosul
Young Ali was tormented by extremists in the war-torn city, but was given hope after fleeing to a hospital run by the AMAR Foundation
"IT was just for their amusement," Nadiya recalls as she describes how ISIS thugs tore clumps of hair from her 18-month old toddler Ali's head.
Yet she and her family were among the lucky ones to escape from the battle-scarred city of Mosul.
Only weeks ago Nadiya and her family clung on for dear life as all they knew around them was destroyed amid a hail of shells and bullets in the battle for Iraq's third city.
Her young son Ali suffered cruel abuse at the hands of extremists driven by a warped will to destroy all around them.
The cute toddler became on object of fun for ISIS soldiers.
Nayiya explains: "Daesh [ISIS] soldiers constantly used to pull out clumps of my son’s hair.
"It was just for amusement, they thought it was really funny.
"Now he is absolutely terrified of men."
"We never thought we’d be able to escape alive," she adds.
But the family was able to flee the carnage, arriving at a hospital supported by the AMAR Foundation - aimed at helping those affected by war.
Ali's tiny month-old sister is now being treated for a severe chest infection at the Shikhan Hospital.
She may not have survived had she not reached this bastion of hope in the middle of a war.
But there are many more crying out for help.
More than 500,000 of Mosul's inhabitants are believed to be children.
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The Sun's Smiles at Christmas campaign wants to help bring a little light into the life of those drowning in the darkness of the bloody conflict.
The Foundation's chairman Baroness Nicholson explains: "Already, there are an extraordinary number of victims whose suffering is unbelievable.
"Mothers who have lost their children. Wives who have lost their husbands.
"And this is only the beginning. The war to liberate Mosul has only just begun.”
'I get nightmares about the bombs'
TOUSLED-haired Hijram Hassy seems happy enough, but her mother tells a different story.
“She wakes up screaming in the night as if she can hear the bombs again,” says mum Wahbia.
Eight-year-old Hijram’s family cowered for ten days in a tent as Iraqi forces battled to run ISIS out of Mosul.
“We were trapped, with food and water running out,” says mum-of-five Wahbia, 30. “The children were crying in fear. A mortar killed five of our sheep.”
The family escaped to a camp, where they got help in a clinic run by Britain’s Amar International Charitable Foundation. The centre sees 500 people a day. One worker said many of the traumatised children have “forgotten how to play”.
Amar — founded in 1991 by Lady Emma Nicholson — uses locals to give aid, treatment and education for children and adults.
Baroness Nicholson says: “I can assure Sun readers that donations will go straight to helping these poor people. It would be a marvellous way to show the spirit of Christmas.”
A donation of £30 buys a family food for a week.
Asked about the future, smiling Hijram says: “I have awful nightmares but I want to forget the bad times. I want to go to school and be a teacher.
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