Emad Mshko Tamo, a 12-year-old Yazidi boy, has been rescued from Islamic captivity after being divided from his family three years ago. In the summer of 2014, the Islamic state overtook Sinjar, a town in Iraqi Kurdistan, and killed (as well as kidnapped) hundreds of people–the United Nations ruled it a genocide.

The Yazidi people have been long regarded as Muslim enemies. According to CNN, they are one of the tiniest and oldest “monotheistic religious minorities” that draw from Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism. They have a history of persecution and have been targeted by various groups since the dawn of the Ottoman Empire.

Tamo’s mother fled to Canada, barely escaping capture by Islamic militants, but he himself was not so fortunate. During his time detained, Tamo was forced to train as a soldier for the terrorist army and suffered a life-threatening injury after a mortar dropped within his vicinity. Iraqi soldiers fighting in the Mosul area found him covered in blood and dust and took him to the hospital to get necessary treatment. It was only after a picture of Tamo began to circulate on social media, that his mother discovered her son was still alive. Though they are now reunited, Tamo’s brother and father are still trapped in Mosul.

Though Iraq has now emerged as a victory over ISIS, reclaiming Mosul, the city is in ruins, and thousands of dead citizens lie in the rubble of destroyed houses and buildings. The search continues for many who went missing during the chaos.