The Islamic State's child soldiers
The Islamic State has been recruiting child soldiers for quite some time now, and the world is finally taking notice.
In one of the Islamic State's (IS) latest YouTube videos, children stand in formation, reciting and chanting the orders of an instructor. The children, as young as five or six, are training to be fighters.
“God is great,” they shout. The video then shows the children kneeling in a circle, listening to the trainer explain how they are part of Syria's “Farouq Institute,” which seems to be a training program. He calls the children “cubs of the caliphate,” saying they are receiving education about Islam and the teachings of martyrdom. He says that IS is preparing a new generation “to redeem Al-Aqsa” and that the newest fighters will help extend the caliphate “to Rome.”
These children are not the first to be enlisted as soldiers, but part of a continuing tradition of guerilla militias.
Charu Lata Hogg, of the UK-based Child Soldiers International, told Al-Monitor that the phenomenon of child soldiers is well established, noting examples from African and Asian countries. What is different this time, Hogg said, is that “IS is showing us exactly how it’s done.”
