‘ISIL recruited 400 children in 2015’
A so-called human rights monitoring group says the ISIL Takfiri militant group has recruited at least 400 children in conflict-hit Syria over the past three months, and exposed them to the Saudi-backed ultra-extremist Wahhabi ideology as well as military training.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that the children, all aged under 18, were recruited mainly in the eastern Syrian cities of al-Mayadin and al-Bukamal near the border with Iraq.
It further noted that ISIL preyed on the minors near schools, mosques and in public areas where the extremists carries out executions, flagellation and brutal punishments on local residents.
The group added that ISIL Takfiris either have induced parents to send their children to their training camps, have recruited the m without their parents’ consent, or lured the children with money, weapons and cars.
Earlier this month, ISIL released a video that shows a young militant shooting and killing an Israeli man, claimed by the terrorist group to be a spy for Israel’s spy agency Mossad.
In the video, the boy is seen walking around in front of the hostage and then shooting him in the forehead with a pistol.
Last November, an ISIL propaganda video emerged on social media, showing the indoctrination and training of dozens of child soldiers from Kazakhstan.
The boys are shown sitting in a group and wearing matching camouflage fatigues. One of the boys shows off his ability to strip apart and reassemble a machine gun whilst the other boys watch on. The child soldiers are then shown carrying out gun maneuvers and tactical formations.
