Islamic State continue to attract and recruit children within its ranks under what so called “Ashbal al- Khilafah” (cubs of lions of the caliphate), where SOHR could document joining of at least 400 children to IS Organization since the beginning of this year until March 23 within IS- held areas in Syria.
Meanwhile, the organization has witnessed joining of at least 120 new jihadists since the beginning of this year. The last three months are considered the least in terms of proportion of joining to IS by fighters from all nationalities since the declaration of its own alleged “Caliphate” in June 28, 2014.
Syrian regions like the two cities of al- Mayadin and al- Bokamal had witnessed opening what so called offices of “Ashbal al- Khilafah” that recruit children to IS.
These offices work on convincing and attracting the children who live near IS posts and who go to schools and mosques, the children who want to join IS without the approval of their parents and the children who come to the squares where the operations of executions, whipping, crucifying and beheading, and stoning carried out.
The organization also induces the parents and guardians to send their sons to these camps where the children undergo to Sharia and military courses. The Shariaa course firms IS ideology inside the brain of those children while the military one teaches them how to use weapons and fight the enemies during clashes, battles and storms.
IS also tries to lure the children by money, weapons and cars in order to convince them to join its own camps. In addition to, IS receives and takes care of children who suffer from congenital malformation. IS uses children to work as spies and agents to gather news and as guards on its own posts.
In January 25, 2015, SOHR documented that IS organization sent a battalion consisting of about 140 members, vast majority under the age of 18 and newly joined the training camps of Islamic battalions, to the battlefronts in the city of Kobani, where SOHR could document death of 6 members who are under the age of 18.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the children, all aged under 18, were recruited near schools, mosques and in public areas where Islamic State carries out killings and brutal punishments on local people.
One such young boy appeared in a video early this month shooting dead an Israeli Arab accused by Islamic State of being as spy. A French police source said the boy might be the half-brother of Mohamed Merah, who killed three soldiers, a rabbi and three Jewish children in Toulouse in 2012.
“They use children because it is easy to brainwash them. They can build these children into what they want, they stop them from going to school and send them to IS schools instead,” said Rami Abdulrahman, head of the British-based Observatory.
Islamic State declared a caliphate last year in territory it controls in Syria and Iraq and is being targeted by U.S.-led air strikes in both countries.
It has beheaded or shot dead Syrian civilians, combatants, foreign aid workers and journalists and has released videos appearing to show children witnessing or participating in some of the killings. The group persecutes people across sects and ethnicities who do not adhere to its ultra-hardline doctrine.
The group may be resorting to children because it has been having difficulties recruiting adults since the start of the year, with only 120 joining its ranks, Abdulrahman said.
This was partly due to tighter controls on the Turkish border, where foreign fighters tend to enter, he added.
Islamic State has encouraged parents to send children to training camps or has recruited them without their parents’ consent, often luring them with money, said the Observatory, which tracks the conflict using sources on the ground.
At the training camps, the children learn to fire live ammunition, fight in battles and to drive, it said. Islamic State also recruits children as informants and as guards for its headquarters as well as welcoming children with birth defects into its ranks, the Observatory added. – See more at: http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Islamic+State+recruits+400+children+since+January%3A+Syria+monitor&NewsID=449193#sthash.XUDA83c1.dpuf
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the children, all aged under 18, were recruited near schools, mosques and in public areas where Islamic State carries out killings and brutal punishments on local people.
One such young boy appeared in a video early this month shooting dead an Israeli Arab accused by Islamic State of being as spy. A French police source said the boy might be the half-brother of Mohamed Merah, who killed three soldiers, a rabbi and three Jewish children in Toulouse in 2012.
“They use children because it is easy to brainwash them. They can build these children into what they want, they stop them from going to school and send them to IS schools instead,” said Rami Abdulrahman, head of the British-based Observatory.
Islamic State declared a caliphate last year in territory it controls in Syria and Iraq and is being targeted by U.S.-led air strikes in both countries.
It has beheaded or shot dead Syrian civilians, combatants, foreign aid workers and journalists and has released videos appearing to show children witnessing or participating in some of the killings. The group persecutes people across sects and ethnicities who do not adhere to its ultra-hardline doctrine.
The group may be resorting to children because it has been having difficulties recruiting adults since the start of the year, with only 120 joining its ranks, Abdulrahman said.
This was partly due to tighter controls on the Turkish border, where foreign fighters tend to enter, he added.
Islamic State has encouraged parents to send children to training camps or has recruited them without their parents’ consent, often luring them with money, said the Observatory, which tracks the conflict using sources on the ground.
At the training camps, the children learn to fire live ammunition, fight in battles and to drive, it said. Islamic State also recruits children as informants and as guards for its headquarters as well as welcoming children with birth defects into its ranks, the Observatory added. – See more at: http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Islamic+State+recruits+400+children+since+January%3A+Syria+monitor&NewsID=449193#sthash.XUDA83c1.dpuf
One such young boy appeared in a video early this month shooting dead an Israeli Arab accused by Islamic State of being as spy. A French police source said the boy might be the half-brother of Mohamed Merah, who killed three soldiers, a rabbi and three Jewish children in Toulouse in 2012.
“They use children because it is easy to brainwash them. They can build these children into what they want, they stop them from going to school and send them to IS schools instead,” said Rami Abdulrahman, head of the British-based Observatory.
Islamic State declared a caliphate last year in territory it controls in Syria and Iraq and is being targeted by U.S.-led air strikes in both countries.
It has beheaded or shot dead Syrian civilians, combatants, foreign aid workers and journalists and has released videos appearing to show children witnessing or participating in some of the killings. The group persecutes people across sects and ethnicities who do not adhere to its ultra-hardline doctrine.
The group may be resorting to children because it has been having difficulties recruiting adults since the start of the year, with only 120 joining its ranks, Abdulrahman said.
This was partly due to tighter controls on the Turkish border, where foreign fighters tend to enter, he added.
Islamic State has encouraged parents to send children to training camps or has recruited them without their parents’ consent, often luring them with money, said the Observatory, which tracks the conflict using sources on the ground.
At the training camps, the children learn to fire live ammunition, fight in battles and to drive, it said. Islamic State also recruits children as informants and as guards for its headquarters as well as welcoming children with birth defects into its ranks, the Observatory added. – See more at: http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Islamic+State+recruits+400+children+since+January%3A+Syria+monitor&NewsID=449193#sthash.XUDA83c1.dpuf
One such young boy appeared in a video early this month shooting dead an Israeli Arab accused by Islamic State of being as spy. A French police source said the boy might be the half-brother of Mohamed Merah, who killed three soldiers, a rabbi and three Jewish children in Toulouse in 2012.
“They use children because it is easy to brainwash them. They can build these children into what they want, they stop them from going to school and send them to IS schools instead,” said Rami Abdulrahman, head of the British-based Observatory.
Islamic State declared a caliphate last year in territory it controls in Syria and Iraq and is being targeted by U.S.-led air strikes in both countries.
It has beheaded or shot dead Syrian civilians, combatants, foreign aid workers and journalists and has released videos appearing to show children witnessing or participating in some of the killings. The group persecutes people across sects and ethnicities who do not adhere to its ultra-hardline doctrine.
The group may be resorting to children because it has been having difficulties recruiting adults since the start of the year, with only 120 joining its ranks, Abdulrahman said.
This was partly due to tighter controls on the Turkish border, where foreign fighters tend to enter, he added.
Islamic State has encouraged parents to send children to training camps or has recruited them without their parents’ consent, often luring them with money, said the Observatory, which tracks the conflict using sources on the ground.
At the training camps, the children learn to fire live ammunition, fight in battles and to drive, it said. Islamic State also recruits children as informants and as guards for its headquarters as well as welcoming children with birth defects into its ranks, the Observatory added. – See more at: http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Islamic+State+recruits+400+children+since+January%3A+Syria+monitor&NewsID=449193#sthash.XUDA83c1.dpuf
